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Genealogical  Memoranda 

•I 

OF  THE 


Quisenberry  Family 


AND  OTHER  FAMILIES, 


Including  the  Names  of  Chenault,  Cameron,  Mullins,  Burris, 
Tandy,  Bush,  Broomhall,  Finkle,  Rigg, 
and  others. 


By  ANDERSON  CHENAULT  QUISENBERRY. 


“  I  think  ever y  man  would  like  to  come  of  an  ancient  and  honorable  race . As  you 

like  your  father  to  be  an  honorable  man,  why  not  your  grandfather,  and  his  ancestors 
before  him?”  —Colonel  Newcome. 


Washington,  D.  C. 

Hartman  &  Cadick,  Printers. 
1897. 


THE  FLOWERS  COUECTION 

mi 

Oi  G 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


introduction — 

Chapter  I.  Origin  of  the  Name  and  Family  of  Quisenberry. 
Chapter  II.  The  Quisenberry  Family  in  Virginia. 

Chapter  III.  Characteristics  and  Services  of  the  Family. 
Chapter  IV.  The  Descendants  of  William  Quisenberry. 
Chapter  V.  The  Descendants  of  Humphrey  Quisenberry. 
Chapter  VI.  Rev.  James  Quisenberry  and  His  Children. 
Chapter  N  il.  Colby  Burris  Quisenberry  and  His  Descendants. 
Chapter  VIII.  James  Francis  Quisenberry  and  His  De¬ 
scendants. 

Chapter  IX.  The  Bush  Family. 

Chapter  X.  The  Chenault  Family. 

Chapter  XI.  The  Mullins  Family. 

Chapter  XII.  The  Cameron  Family. 

Chapter  XIII.  The  Broomhall  Family. 

Chapter  XIV.  The  Finkle  Family. 

Chapter  XV.  Reminiscences  of  Life  in  Virginia  before  tin* 
War. 


APPENDICES. 


I.  Information  from  England. 

II.  Information  from  Westmoreland  County,  Va. 

III.  Information  from  King  George  County,  Va. 

IV.  Information  from  Richmond  and  Essex  Counties,  Va. 

V.  Information  from  Caroline  County,  Va. 

VI.  Information  from  Spottsylvania  County,  Va. 

VII.  Information  from  Orange  County,  Va. 

VIII.  General  and  Miscellaneous  Information. 


4'7f>3S0 


. 


- 


:  ’V  . 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  lias  been  about  ten  years  since  I  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
collating  all  accessible  information  concerning  each  branch  of  the 
ancestry  of  my  children,  and  perpetuating  it  in  print  for  the  benefit 
and  information  of  future  generations.  The  plan  I  at  first  pro¬ 
posed  to  myself  was  a  very  comprehensive  one,  and  embraced  no 
less  an  undertaking  than  the  tracing  back  of  each  line  to  the  re¬ 
motest  ancestor  possible,  even  in  Europe,  and  then  coming  back 
down  the  line  and  including  every  descendant  of  the  remote  pro¬ 
positus,  even  to  the  present  time.  I  soon  found  that  the  success¬ 
ful  accomplishment  of  that  kind  of  an  undertaking,  if  possible 
at  all,  would  require  the  whole  work  of  a  number  of  people  for  a 
lifetime  each,  together  with  unlimited  means,  and  so  that  plan 
was  abandoned  and  the  much  less  pretentious  one  adopted  in 
its  stead  is  not  so  perfect  as  it  might  be.  For,  hampered  both  by 
a  lack  of  means  and  of  time,  I  have  been  able  to  prosecute  my  re¬ 
searches  for  genealogical  data  only  desultorily.  But,  as  I  can  see 
no  prospect  of  ever  getting  the  work  into  any  materially  better 
shape  than  it  now  is,  though  it  is  very  imperfect,  I  have  con¬ 
cluded  to  print  it  as  it  is,  and  thus  preserve  what  1  have  been  at 
so  much  pains  to  gather,  little  as  it  is;  for  life  is  uncertain,  and  in 
case  of  my  death  before  its  publication  even  that  little  would  in 
all  probability  be  lost  again.  The  work,  I  fear,  will  not  be  satis¬ 
factory  to  any  one;  it  certainly  is  not  satisfactory  to  me;  but,  such 
as  it  is,  it  really  does  contain  much  information  that  is  of  value  to 
the  members  of  the  families  concerned,  and  that  is  worthy  of  be¬ 
ing  preserved  by  them.  I  think  it  undoubtedly  gives  to  all  of  them 
information  about  their  ancestors  that  they  never  had  before.  I 
hope  my  little  effort  may  be  the  means  of  so  interesting  others 
that  a  much  fuller  and  more  perfect  work  may  be  the  outcome  some¬ 
time  in  the  immediate  future. 


476390 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


While  I  have  eagerly  sought  out  everything  attainable  about 
each  of  the  families  considered  in  this  work,  I  have  naturally  been 
most  deeply  interested  in  matters  concerning  my  own  name — the 
name  I  am  to  transmit  to  other  times,  if  i  transmit  any;  and,  very 
much  to  my  surprise,  it  is  the  one  name  of  them  all  about  which 
information  was  everywhere  most  easily  and  most  voluminously 
secured. 

I  have  placed  the  price  of  the  work  at  a  figure  which  will 
enable  me  to  pay  the  cost  of  publication  only;  and  it  is  easily 
worth  the  price  to  anyone  to  whom  it  is  worth  anything  at  all.  As 
it  is  for  my  children  and  my  possible  remote  descendants,  it  has 
been  to  me  strictly  a  labor  of  love;  and  I  have  no  hope  of  ever  being 
reimbursed  for  even  the  expense  I  have  gone  to  in  collating  and 
publishing  it,  much  less  for  the  time  I  have  devoted  to  it.  The  edi¬ 
tion,  though  limited  to  100  copies,  is  more  than  I  expect  to  sell,  and 
the  book  has  been  gotten  up,  as  to  the  quality  of  paper  and  bind¬ 
ing,  with  a  view  to  durability.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  a 
book  constructed  mechanically  as  this  one  is,  with  careful  handling 
and  barring  accidents,  should  not  last  for  several  centuries.  And 
the  older  it  grows  the  more  valuable  it  will  become. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  explain  a  couple  of  points:  In  the 
copies  of  old  records  in  the  Appendix  such  forms  of  date  as,  say, 
“February  10, 1707-’08,”  sometimes  appear.  This  is  explained  by  the 
fact  that  until  1752  the  English  year  began  on  the  25th  of  March, 
whilst  elsewhere  in  Europe  the  year  began  on  January  1st;  so,  after 
January  1st,  and  until  March  25th  of  each  year,  all  documents  in 
England  and  her  colonies  were  dated  as  of  two  years;  for  instance, 
1707-’08  served  to  show  that  while  it  was  still  1707  in  England  and 
her  colonies,  it  was  1708  everywhere  else.  In  1752,  by  act  of  Par¬ 
liament,  the  English  year  was  made  to  begin  on  January  1st  instead 
of  March  25th. 

The  word  “ye,”  so  often  used  in  old  records  and  documents, 
is  not  “ye”  at  all,  but  “the.”  In  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  runes  or 
alphabet  there  was  a  letter  or  symbol  called  “thorn,”  almost  ex¬ 
actly  similar  to  the  Roman  “y”  in  shape,  and  it  had  the  sound  of 
“th,”  as  the  Greek  letter  “theta”  has.  This  symbol  was  retained 
by  the  Normans,  after  their  conquest  of  England;  and,  in  fact. 


INTRODUCTION. 


1 


it  dropped  out  of  use  but  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  was  rarely  used  except  in  spelling  the  word  “the,”  though 
sometimes  it  was  used  in  “that,”  as  “yat;”  or  more  frequently  in  an 
abbreviated  form,  as  “yt.”  This  fact  is  so  little  known  that  I 
have  mentioned  it  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  read  the 
copies  of  old  records  in  the  Appendix  to  this  work. 

Blank  pages  are  inserted  at  the  end  of  the  book  for  the  con 
venience  of  those  who  may  wish  to  continue  their  family  record 
thereon. 

ANDERSON  CHENAULT  QUISENBERRY. 
Washington,  D.  C.,  January  25,  1897. 


'  f  II 


. 

. 


■' 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AND  FAMILY  OF  QUISENBERRY. 


The  origin  of  the  Quisenberry  family,  as  well  as  the  significa¬ 
tion  of  the  name,  is  wrapped  in  an  obscurity  which  a  great  deal 
of  patient  research  has,  as  yet,  failed  to  penetrate.  Apparently 
the  name  is  Norman,  but  English,  Scottish,  and  Dutch  origins 
have  been  severally  claimed  for  it  by  different  parties.  It  has, 
at  vai’ious  times,  been  spelled  in  quite  a  variety  of  ways;  and  is 
iven  at  this  time  spelled  in  at  least  half  a  dozen  ways  by  different 
branches  of  the  original  stock.  During  researches  it  lias  been 
found  in  public  records  and  elsewhere  spelled  after  each  of  the 
following  styles,  to-wit:  Quissinburrowe,  Quissinborow,  Quissin- 
boro’,  Quessenbury,  Quisenbury,  Quisenberry,  Quesenburv,  Quesen- 
berry,  Quistenberry,  Quizenborogh,  Cliristianbury,  Christianberry, 
Chrissenberry,  Cosenberry,  Crusenberry,  Cusenberrv,  Custenberry, 
Cousinberry,  Crusinberry,  Cushenberry,  and,  in  fact,  in  a  variety 
of  other  styles,  the  changes  being  rung  on  the  “i”  and  the  “e,”  and 
on  the  “berry,”  “bury,”  “borough,”  etc.,  almost  infinitely.  Truly 
this  is  a  goodly  lot  of  cognomens  from  which  to  take  pick  and 
choice,  and  they  are  all  actually  variants  of  one  original  form  of 
the  name — probably  Christianbury  or  Queenborough.  The  name  is 
now  known  principally  in  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri.  In 
Virginia  it  is  pronounced  “Cushenberrv,”  “Cuesenberry,”  and 
“Crusinberry,”  according  to  locality;  and  in  Kentucky  it  is  almost 
universally  pronounced  “Cushenberry.”  Probably  the  first  pro¬ 
nunciation  of  the  name  in  America  was  “Quizenborough,”  for  the 
records  show  (see  Appendix  II,  32)  that  on  May  12,  1663,  the  pioneer 
of  the  family,  then  living  in  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia, 
bought  a  red  heifer  at  a  sale  in  old  Rappahannock,  an  adjoining 
count}7,  and  his  name  was  put  down  on  the  sale  book  as  “John 
Quizenborough”  by  the  clerk  of  the  sale,  who  probably  wrote  it 
phonetically  as  the  buyer  called  it  out,  he  (the  clerk)  being  of  a 
different  county  and  unacquainted  with  the  name.  The  pioneer 
himself  spelled  the  name  “Quessenbury.” 


10 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AND  FAMILY  OF  QUISENBERRY. 


Different  branches  of  tlie  family  have  different  traditions  as 
to  its  origin,  and  the  philologists  who  have  been  consulted  upon  the 
subject  do  not  agree  in  their  views  as  to  the  nationality  of  the 
name.  Professor  Scheie  de  Vere,  of  Virginia  University,  who  is 
a  recognized  authority  upon  such  matters,  is  of  the  opinion  that 
the  name  is  of  Scottish  origin,  and  that  it  is  a  corruption  of  the 
name  “Queensberry,”  and  in  this  view  he  is  supported  by  Dr.  Wil¬ 
liam  D.  Quesenberry,  of  Milford,  Caroline  county,  Virginia.  Dr. 
Quesenberry  states  that  the  tradition  that  has  come  down  to  him 
is  that  the  family  is  of  Scottish  origin;  and  he  believes  the  name 
has  been  corrupted  from  Queensberry.  It  appears,  however,  that 
no  such  patronymic  as  Queensberry  exists  in  Scotland.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  Scotch  nobleman  bearing  the  double  title  of  Duke  of 
Buccleuch  and  Queensberry,  and  he  owns  the  ruins  of  the  historic 
Melrose  Abbey,  consecrated  forever  by  the  witching  poetic  fantasy 
of  the  Wizard  of  the  North;  but  the  cognomen  of  the  Duke  of 
Queensberry  is  Douglas,  and  in  his  case  the  term  Queensberry  is 
merely  a  title  of  honor  appertaining  to  that  branch  of  the  Douglas 
family  of  which  he  is  the  head.  (See  Appendix  I,  3.) 

Dr.  Hyde  Clark,  of  London,  a  very  distinguished  philologist, 
states  that  he  is  inclined  to  think  Quisenberry  is  a  Dutch  name, 
but  declines  to  give  an  authoritative  opinion.  Mr.  Bernard  Kettle, 
Librarian  of  the  Guildhall  Library,  London,  and  Mr  Walter  Rye, 
of  London,  author  of  “Records  and  Record  Searching,”  have  each 
given  an  opinion  that  the  name  is  of  Dutch  origin;  and  it  is  stated 
in  support  of  this  view  that  vast  numbers  of  Dutch  Protestants, 
fleeing  from  the  persecution  of  the  bloody  Duke  of  Alva,  settled 
in  England  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  and  that  these 
emigrants  added  largely  to  Ihe  personal  nomenclature  of  England, 
their  names  generally  being  more  or  less  modified  in  the  process  of 
Anglicization. 

I  have  read  on  the  tombstone  of  my  great-grandfather,  Rev. 
James  Quisenberry  (1759-1830)  that  he  was  “of  English  parentage,” 
which  Avas  evidently  intended  to  mean  that  he  was  of  English 
descent,  for  his  parents  were  not  born  in  England,  but  in  Virginia. 
His  grandson,  Esquire  Thacker  Quisenberry,  of  Winchester,  Ky., 
says  he  has  heard  the  old  gentleman  say  that  the  Quisenberrys 
came  from  the  north  of  England,  close  to  the  marches  of  Scotland. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AND  FAMILY  OF  QUISENBERRY. 


11 


Tlie  tradition  of  numerous  members  of  the  family  now  living  in 
various  parts  of  Virginia  is  that  their  ancestors  came  from  Eng¬ 
land.  The  fact  that  the  name  in  some  of  the  branches  of  the  family 
is  “Chrissenberry,”  “Christenberry,”  and  “Christianberry,”  may  in¬ 
dicate  the  origin  of  the  name  from  Christianbury  Craig,  a  mountain 
in  the  extreme  north  of  Cumberland  county,  England,  and  which, 
indeed,  lies  partly  in  England  and  partly  in  Scotland.  The  will 
of  Humphrey  Quesenbury  (Appendix  II,  26),  written  in  his  own 
hand,  several  times  uses  the  term  “dafter”  for  “daughter,”  a  strong 
North  of  England  colloquialism,  which,  of  course,  he  had  acquired 
from  his  father  and  those  before  him. 

Mr.  Samuel  Quesenberry,  at  present  living  at  Ozeana,  Ess< 
county,  Virginia,  where  he  is  a  Justice  of  the  l’eace,  only  a  fe 
years  ago  had  in  his  possession  an  old  black-letter  English  Bible, 
which  had  come  down  to  him  through  many  generations.  Being- 
unacquainted  with  black-letter,  he  presumed  that  the  book  was 
“printed  in  Greek,  or  some  other  language,”  and  he  had  long  used 
it  as  a  “scrap-book.”  That  portion  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  a 
family  record,  however,  he  held  sacred,  though  only  one  entry  of 
all  the  long  record  was  legible  or  decipherable,  and  that  said: 

“/Jfcary  Quesenbury  bteD  September  S,  1569.” 

Mr.  Samuel  Quesenberry  was  not  aware  of  the  value  of  this 
book,  both  as  a  family  record  and  relic,  and  as  a  Biblical  curio, 
for  it  was  probably  a  Coverdale,  or  in  any  event  a  very  rare  copy 
of  one  of  the  earliest  editions  of  the  English  black-letter  Bible. 
A  “commercial  traveler”  stopping  with  him  one  night  suggested 
that  he  might  get  a  good  price  for  it  in  Baltimore.  He  accordingly 
carried  it  to  that  city  and  sold  it  for  fifty  dollars  to  a  man  who 
told  him,  after  the  sale  was  effected,  that  it  was  “the  oldest  Bible 
in  America.”  Since  that  time  all  trace  of  the  old  Bible  has  been 
lost,  though  it  is  probably  not  an  ill  conjecture  that  it  has  passed 
through  the  hands  of  Bernard  Quaritch,  the  world-famous  biblio¬ 
pole  of  London.  The  known  existence  of  this  book  and  the  record 
it  contains,  however,  seems  convincing  proof  that  the  Quisenberry 
family  at  least  lived  in  England  for  some  time,  whether  it  origin¬ 
ated  there  or  not,  and  that  they  were  among  the  very  first  of  those 


12 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AND  FAMILY  OF  QUISENBERRY. 


in  England  to  unite  with  the  Reformation;  and  it  authentically 
carries  the  existence  of  the  family  back  almost  to  the  extreme 
limit  of  the  period  to  which  English  families  generally  may  be 
traced,  for  Mr.  W.  1*.  W.  Phil li more,  of  London,  a  most  competent 
authority,  says  in  his  very  entertaining  book,  “How  to  Write  the 
History  of  a  Family,”  that  “for  the  majority  of  English  families 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  may  be  fixed  upon  as  the  ex¬ 
treme  limit  of  antiquity  to  which  they  may  hope  to  attain.” 

The  name  Quisenberry,  however,  is  now  apparently  extinct  in 
England.  Mr.  G.  Iv.  Fortesque,  Librarian  of  the  British  Museum, 
wrote  that  he  had  made  an  exhaustive  search  of  all  the  contem¬ 
porary  (1888)  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  directories,  as  well  as 
other  works,  and  utterly  failed  to  find  the  name  Quisenberry,  or 
any  name  approximating  it,  and  that  in  his  opinion  no  such  name 
now  exists  in  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Walter  Rye,  who  is  perhaps  as 
well  informed  concerning  English  names  as  any  man  living,  also 
made  a  similar  search,  without  success.  The  only  contemporary 
names  in  Great  Britain  at  all  approximating  Quisenberry,  so  far 
as  he  could  find  after  a  faithful  search,  are:  Queenborough,  in 
Kent  (and  this,  if  anything  is,  is  doubtless  the  present  name  of  the 
Quisenberry  family  in  England);  Quanbury,  in  Licolnshire,  and 
Quarnbury,  in  Yorkshire.  While  Mr.  Rye  thinks  that  Quisenberry 
“sounds  Dutch,”  he  admits  that  “it  may  be  a  corruption  of  some 
such  name  as  ‘Kissenbury.’  ”  The  nearest  approach  that  has  been 
found  to  this  name  is  that  of  Lieutenant  Kislingbury,  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  a  member  of  the  ill-fated  “Greeley  expedition,”  fitted 
out  by  the  United  States  Government  to  discover  a  route  to  the 
North  Pole. 

In  England  a  name  might  easily  become  obliterated  without 
the  family  which  it  had  some  time  designated  becoming  extinct, 
for  in  that  country  the  surnames  may  generally  be  changed  at  will. 
This  is  notably  instanced  in  the  case  of  the  name  Washington,  so 
familiar  in  America,  and,  indeed,  throughout  the  world.  The  orig¬ 
inal  progenitor  of  this  race,  so  far  as  the  records  extend,  was  a 
de  Hertburn,  who  arbitrarily  changed  his  name  into  Wessyngton, 
which,  after  going  through  several  etymological  gymnastics,  finally 
crystallized  into  Washington,  and  became  immortal.  And  it  may 
be  that  the  humble  name  of  Quisenberry,  or  Quessenbury,  or  Quis- 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AND  FAMILY  OF  QUISENBERRY. 


13 


sinborrowe,  or  whatever  it  may  originally  have  been,  has  been  sim¬ 
ilarly  changed  in  England  since  the  American  branch  left  there, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  or  more,  and  that  the  family  now 
has  there  a  numerous  representation  under  some  other  surname 
wholly  unknown  to  us,  their  transatlantic  kin. 

After  a  great  deal  of  correspondence  and  considerable  ex¬ 
pense  there  has  been  found  only  one  trace  of  the  name  Quisenberry 
in  England,  though  with  sufficient  time  and  adequate  means  to 
devote  to  Ihe  matter  a  great  deal  about  it  might  be  discovered. 
The  trace  mentioned  is  this:  the  ancient  registers  of  St.  Giles 
Church,  Cripplegate  Without,  London,  have  the  following  entry: 

“Licensed  to  marry. — Samuel  Quissinburrowe,  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  London,  bachelor,  23, 
and  Mary  Warner,  of  St.  Michael,  Bassishawe,  London,  21.  Her  parents  dead.  Alleged  by  Thomas 
Quissinborow,  of  St.  Giles,  aforesaid,  Clerk  —  at  St.  Giles,  aforesaid,  February  1st,  1673. 

At  that  time  there  had  been  Quisenberrys  in  Virginia  for  at 
least  twenty-two  years,  and  perhaps  longer.  Although  this  license 
was  issued  February  1st,  1G73,  the  marriage,  for  some  cause,  now 
unknown,  was  not  solemnized  until  September  4th  following.  It 
is  noted  that  Samuel  Quissinburrowe  was  married  by  license  at  the 
maximum  fee  of  six  shillings  and  eight  pence,  and  not  by  banns 
at  the  minimum  fee  of  two  shillings,  and  this  fact  is  assumed  by 
Mr.  John  BroomlialJ,  J.  P.,  of  Surbiton,  County  Surrey,  England, 
<c  indicate  his  superior  social  and  financial  position.  Both  Squire 
Broomhall  and  Mr.  Kettle,  the  Guildhall  Librarian,  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  expression  “Thomas  Quissinborow,  Clerk,”  may, 
without  contradiction,  be  construed  to  mean  that  Thomas  Quis¬ 
sinborow  was  curate  or  pastor  of  St.  Giles  Church. 

At  that  time  (1G73)  St.  Giles  was  one  of  the  most  famous 
churches  in  London.  It  was  founded  in  the  year  1090,  A.  D. ;  re¬ 
built,  after  destruction  by  fire  in  1545  (with  the  exception  of  the 
fine  tower  added  in  1G60);  and  there  Oliver  Cromwell  was  married, 
and  Milton,  the  poet,  and  Foxe,  the  martyrologist,  are  buried. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  brief  entry  from  the  ancient  regis¬ 
ters  of  St.  Giles  Church,  the  name  Quisenberry  is  spelled  in  two 
ways.  Thomas  and  Samuel  were  doubtless  father  and  son.  At  any 
rate  they  were  undoubtedly  closely  related  and  members  of  tin* 
same  family.  Spelling,  especially  of  names,  was  until  a  compara¬ 
tively  recent  date  quite  arbitrary,  and  this  fact  accounts  for 
the  diversity  in  the  manner  of  spelling  the  name  Quisenberry  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  Few,  if  any,  English 
names  have  escaped  a  similar  diversity. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  QUISENBElRY  FAMILY  IN  VIRGINIA. 


Of  course  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  Quisenberry  family  in 
America  originated  from  “three  brothers”  who  came  from  Eng¬ 
land  at  an  early  date.  All,  or  at  least  the  great  majority  of  Amer¬ 
ican  families,  are  traditionally  descended  from  “three  brothers” 
who  originally  came  to  these  shores.  In  the  case  of  the  Quisen¬ 
berry  family,  however,  it  is  believed  from  researches  among  ihe 
records  that  all  of  them  now  in  America  are  descended  from  John 
Quessenbury,  who  settled  in  Virginia  at  some  time  prior  to  1051. 
The  exact  time  of  his  coming  is  not  known,  and  probably  never 
will  be  known.  It  appears  (see  Appendix  II,  1)  that  he  had,  in 
1651,  assisted  in  surveying  the  “Stratford”  or  Thomas  Lee  estate 
(then  in  Northumberland  county,  now  in  Westmoreland),  and  he 
afterwards  (in  1660)  bought  one  hundred  acres  of  land  adjoining 
that  estate,  when  it  was  still  the  property  of  Thomas  Pope,  of 
w'hose  heirs  Thomas  Lee  bought  it.  John  Quessenbury  evidently 
owned  other  lands  before  he  bought  this  hundred  acres,  but  he 
had  purchased  them  while  Westmoreland  was  still  a  part  of 
Northumberland.  Westmoreland  was  formed  from  Northumber¬ 
land  in  1653,  and  the  records  of  the  last-named  county  were 
destroyed  when  the  Courthouse  was  burned  in  1710;  and  the 
records  of  the  early  land  grants  and  patents  in  the  land  office  at 
Richmond  Avere  also  burned  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  of  the 
city  to  the  Federal  forces  in  1865.  Thus  the  evidences  of  his  first 
purchases  or  entries  of  land  in  Virginia  are  forever  lost. 

In  1707,  in  a  deposition  given  by  this  John  Quisenberry  before 
(lie  Westmoreland  justices,  “being  examined  and  sworn  upon  the 
Holy  Evangelist,”  he  testified  that  he  was  eighty  years  of  age,  and 
that  fifty  years  previously  he  had  assisted  in  surveying  a  planta¬ 
tion  on  the  Potomac,  in  Westmoreland  county,  “since  called  Vaulx- 
land,  or  Vaulx  Quarter,”  for  “old  Mrs.  Vaulx,”  whose  husband 


THE  QUISENBERRY  FAMILY  IN  VIRGINIA. 


15 


was  then  in  England;  and  lie  had  offered  to  buy  a  portion  of  this 
plantation,  “and  she  seemed  willing;”  but  whether  the  trade  was 
consummated  the  deposition  does  not  state,  and  the  records  of 
Westmoreland  county  do  not  show.  However,  it  does  show 
that  as  John  Quisenberry  was  eighty  years  old  in  1707,  he  must 
have  been  born  in  1627. 

In  the  earliest  records  of  Westmoreland  county,  now  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  the  name  is  invariably  spelled 
Quessenbury;  but  as  the  years  go  on  that  is  gradually  changed  into 
Quesenbury,  Quisenburv,  Quesenberry,  and  Quisenberry.  The  first 
record  concerning  John,  the  pioneer,  is  dated  June  27,  1656,  and 
is  a  record  of  “his  mark  of  Hoggs  and  Cattle.”  (See  Appendix  II,  3.) 
The  records  also  show  that  on  January  16,  1666,  he  bought  of  John 
Butler,  of  Westmoreland  county,  one  hundred  acres  of  land  (be¬ 
ing  part  of  a  patent)  “for  a  full  and  valuable  consideration  in  hand 
paid,”  and  a  yearly  quit-rent  of  two  shillings  “at  the  feast  of  St. 
Michael,  the  Archangel.”  On  November  25,  1691,  John  Quisen¬ 
berry,  sr.,  bought  of  Malachi  Beale  his  remaining  interest  of  two 
hundred  acres  in  a  patent. 

John  Quisenberry,  so  far  as  is  known,  had  but  three  children, 
all  sons — John,  William,  and  Humphrey.  John,  who  had  the  dis¬ 
tinction  of  engaging  in  a  law  suit  in  1692  with  Captain  John 
Washington  (Appendix  II,  6),  died  in  1695,  leaving  no  children, 
although  he  was  married.  The  elder  John  Quisenberry  died  in 
1717  at  or  near  the  age  of  ninety  years.  His  will,  dated  November 
23,  1714,  was  probated  November  27,  1717,  which  was  probably  a 
short  time  after  his  death.  (Appendix  II,  17.)  One  of  the  wit¬ 
nesses  of  the  will  was  Francis  Quisenberry,  of  whom  there  is  no 
other  known  record;  but  very  probably  he  was  the  brother  of  the 
testator,  and  he  must  have  died  childless.  Of  Humphrey  Pope,  an¬ 
other  witness  to  the  will,  a  few  words  of  what  is  considered  well 
founded  conjecture  is  here  appropriate,  perhaps.  The  fact  that  he 
witnessed  John  Quisenberry’s  will  and  went  his  security  (Appendix 
IT,  32)  is  prima  facie  evidence  that  the  two  men  were  upon  the 
closest  terms  of  intimacy;  and  in  addition  to  this,  the  fact  that 
one  of  John  Quisenberry’s  sons  wTas  named  Humphrey,  all  goes  to 
suggest  close  relationship  or  connection;  and  the  belief  is  war¬ 
ranted  that  John  Quisenberry’s  wife,  Anne,  was  the  sister  of 
Humphrey  Pope. 


16 


THE  QUISENBERRY  FAMILY  IN  VIRGINIA. 


Mr.  Franklin  Pope,  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  a  gentleman  who 
has  made  extensive  personal  researches  among  English  records 
for  matters  relating  to  the  name  of  Pope,  states  that  in  the  course 
of  his  researches  he  has  learned  that  “one  Humphrey  Pope,  of 
Taunton,  Somersetshire,  England,  was  a  participant  in  the  Duke 
of  Monmouth’s  Rebellion  in  1665,  and  was  sentenced  to  transporta- 
lion  to  the  Barbadoes  for  his  offense,  and  was  actually  sent  there 
upon  a  ship  sailing  from  Bristol  in  that  year.”  It  is  known  that 
a  great  many  of  the  political  exiles  to  the  Barbadoes  made  their 
way  (o  Virginia  within  a  few  years;  and  therefore  it  would  not  be 
surprising  if  the  Humphrey  Pope  who  witnessed  the  will  of  John 
Quisenberry  in  1717,  and  was  afterwards  one  of  the  appraisers  of 
his  estate,  was  the  same  Humphrey  Tope  who  was  sent  to  the 
Barbadoes  in  1665.  However,  there  were  always  Popes  in  West¬ 
moreland  county  from  the  very  start;  and  whether  Humphrey 
was  the  Monmouth  rebel  or  not,  he  was  certainly  closely  allied 
to  the  other  Popes  in  the  county,  all  of  whom  originally  came  from 
the  adjoining  shires  of  Gloucester  and  Somerset,  in  England. 

From  the  Pope  family,  of  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  are 
descended  the  Popes  who  took  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  early 
political  affairs  of  Kentucky,  Illinois,  and  Arkansas,  of  whom  Hon. 
John  Pope,  United  States  Senator  from  Kentucky,  was  perhaps  the 
most  conspicuous.  From  him  was  descended  the  late  Gen.  John 
Pope,  United  States  Army,  who  at  one  time  commanded  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  during  the  Civil  War.  In  Westmoreland  county 
the  Popes  and  the  Quisenberrys  have  so  frequently  intermarried 
during  the  past  two  hundred  years  that  the  degree  of  consanguinity 
between  the  two  families  is  now  too  closely  complicated  to  be 
determined  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 

John  Quisenberry  was  himself  most  probably  one  of  that  num¬ 
erous  throng  of  Royalists  who,  shortly  after  the  beheading  of 
Charles  I,  in  1649,  was  obliged  to  flee  from  the  persecutions  of 
Cromwell  and  the  Puritans,  and  who  came  to  Virginia  and  settled, 
for  the  most  part,  in  the  “Northern  Neck,”  of  which  Northumber¬ 
land  and  Westmoreland  counties  are  a  part,  and  were  then  the 
only  part  open  to  settlement.  Before  that  time  the  Northern 
Neck  had  been  called  “Chiccoun,”  or  “Cliickown,”  and  until  shortly 
before  the  advent  of  the  Royalists  it  had  been  unlawful  to  settle 


THE  QUISENBERRY  FAMILY  TN  VIRGINIA. 


17 


iii  any  portion  of  it.  Virginia  was  loyal  to  the  Stuarts  throughout 
all  their  vicissitudes,  and  gave  freely  of  the  lands  of  the  Northern 
Neck  to  the  fugitive  Royalists.  It  is  almost  a  certainty  that  John 
Quisenberry  was  one  of  these;  some  of  the  Popes  were  of  the 
same  party;  and  his  wife,  Anne  Pope,  was  probably  very  closely 
related  to  that  other  Anne  Pope  of  Westmoreland  county  who 
married  Colonel  John  Washington,  the  great-grandfather  of  George 
Washington. 

John  Quisenberry's  old  homestead  is  still  standing.  It  is  a 
small,  unpretentious  house,  built  more  with  a  view  to  durability 
than  for  show,  and  it  has  weathered  the  storms  of  more  than  two 
centuries.  It  adjoins  tin*  lands  taken  up  in  1651  by  Thomas  Pope, 
and  afterwards  sold  to  Hon.  Thomas  Lee,  who  erected  upon  them 
about  1730  the  historic  “Stratford  Hall,”  still  standing,  the  birth¬ 
place  of  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Francis  Light  foot  Lee,  two  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  the 
great  Confederate  General;  and  it  is  only  a  few  miles  away  from 
the  site  of  “Wakefield,”  the  first  home  of  the  Washingtons  in 
America,  where  George  Washington  was  born. 

It  is  not  known  what,  if  anything,  John  Quisenberry  called 
his  home;  but  it  is  now  known  as  the  “Old  Quisenberry  Place,” 
and  is  owned  by  a  man  named  Jenkins,  who  has  made  it  the  model 
farm  of  Westmoreland  county. 

The  anxiety  to  obtain  every  possible  scrap  of  information 
about  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the  family  was  so  great  that 
tin*  Clerk  of  the  Westmoreland  County  Court  was  commissioned 
to  examine  tin*  criminal  records  and  dockets  of  his  office,  from  the 
earliest  dates,  and  furnish  copies  of  whatever  they  might  show 
in  this  connection.  His  reply  was:  “Nothing  can  be  learned  from 
this  source.  The  name  Quisenberry  has  never  appeared  on  tin* 
criminal  docket  in  this  county.”  This  is  undoubtedly  a  good  rec¬ 
ord,  for  the  family  has  certainly  existed  there  for  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  years  (1651-1897),  and  most  of  that  time  has  been  as 
numerous  there  as  ever  it  was  in  Clark  county,  Kentucky,  where 
for  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years  (1783-1897)  it  has  maintained 
equally  as  creditable  a  standing. 

John  Quisenberry,  the  pioneer,  is  described  in  old  legal  docu¬ 
ments  as  a  “planter,”  and  his  own  depositions  show  that  he  some- 


IS 


THE  QUISENBERRY  FAMILY  IN  VIRGINIA. 


times  acted  as  a  surveyor’s  assistant.  The  deeds  still  in  existence 
show  that  he  owned  three  hundred  acres  of  land;  and  he  almost 
certainly  owned  other  lands,  the  records  of  which  were  destroyed 
by  fire  at  Northumberland  Courthouse  and  at  Richmond.  ITe  and 
his  family  were  communicants  of  the  Anglican  or  Episcopalian 
Church,  and  were  members  of  the  famous  old  Pope’s  Creek  Church, 
one  of  the  two  original  churches  in  the  Washington  Parish  of 
Westmoreland  county.  The  ancient  records  of  this  church,  em¬ 
bracing,  of  course,  the  registers  of  marriages,  births,  and  deaths, 
have  long  ago  perished,  else  much  valuable  information  of  a  genea¬ 
logical  character  might  have  been  secured  from  them  for  use  in 
this  work.  It  is  safe  to  infer,  however,  that  the  ashes  of  John 
Quisenberry  and  many  of  his  descendants  rest  in  the  consecrated 
soil  of  old  Pope’s  Creek  churchyard,  which,  in  colonial  times, 
was  adorned  with  many  memorial  stones.  At  this  time,  however, 
and  for  many  years  past,  its  numerous  graves  have  been  wholly 
unmarked,  and  it  would,  therefore,  be  quite  impossible  to  identify 
the  grave  of  any  person  who  there  lies  interred. 

John  Quisenberry,  as  has  been  shown,  had  three  sons — John, 
William,  and  Humphrey,  and  it  is  from  Humphrey,  the  youngest 
of  the  three,  that  the  Kentucky  branch  of  the  family  are  de¬ 
scended.  Under  the  laws  of  primogeniture  that  then  prevailed  in 
Virginia,  as  well  as  under  his  father’s  will,  William,  the  eldest 
son  (John  having  died  in  1695),  inherited  practically  the  whole 
of  his  father’s  estate;  but  Humphrey  had  been  making  his  own 
way.  We  find  from  the  records  that  on  July  6,  1695,  he  bought  of 
Christopher  Pritchett  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  the  deed  beginning 
quaintly  as  follows:  “This  indenture,  made  the  6th  day  of  July, 
anno  dom.  1695,  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign 
Lord  and  Lady,  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  of  England,  Scot¬ 
land,  France,  and  Ireland,  King  and  Queen,  Defender  of  the  Faith, 
etc.,  between  Christopher  Pritchett,  of  Westmoreland  county,  and 
Washington  Parish,  of  the  one  part,  and  Humphrey  Quisenberry, 
of  the  same  County  and  Parish,  of  the  other  part,  slioweth  that 
Christopher  Pritchett,  abovesaid,  for  and  in  consideration  of  nine 
thousand  pounds  of  good  Orronoco  tobacco,  and  casks,  to  him  in 
hand  paid,  doth  hereby  alienate,  bargain,  sell,  enfeoff  and  con¬ 
firm,”  etc.,  the  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  as  stated. 


THE  QUISENBERKY  FAMILY  IN  VIRGINIA. 


19 


Without  stopping  to  consider  the  enormous  magnitude  of  a 
hand  into  which  nine  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  casks,  could 
be  paid,  it  is  interesting  to  be  able  to  compute  the  money  value 
of  the  land.  For  many  years  tobacco  was  the  principal  legal 
lender  and  medium  of  exchange  in  Virginia,  which  colony  never 
had  a  coinage  of  its  own.  All  linancial  transactions  being  com¬ 
puted  in  tobacco,  it  was  necessary  for  that  staple  to  have  a  fixed 
value,  and  the  Council,  as  early  as  1039,  had,  by  enactment,  placed 
this  at  ninepence  per  pound.  The  nine  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco 
was  therefore  worth  £337  1-2  in  money,  or  about  $1,125,  the 
Virginia  pound  being  worth  only  $3.33  13;  and  this  made  the  land 
cost  $11.25  per  acre- — at  least  twice  as  much  as  it  would  sell  for 
in  this  year  of  grace,  1897,  more  than  two  hundred  years  later. 

This  land,  “lying  on  the  north  side  of  the  great  road  that 
goeth  from  Pope’s  Creek  to  the  head  of  Perpeto  Creek,”  it  tran¬ 
spires,  was  in  old  Rappahannock  county,  which  comprised  portions 
of  the  present  counties  of  King  George,  Richmond,  and  Essex — 
and  was  formed  about  1600,  and  was  swallowed  up  by  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  those  counties  some  years  afterwards,  disappearing  en¬ 
tirely.  The  present  Rappahannock  county,  Virginia,  in  an  en¬ 
tirely  different  locality,  was  not  formed  until  1820. 

The  records  of  Richmond  county,  Virginia,  show  that  in  1718 
“Humphery  Quesenbury,”  of  'Westmoreland  county,  bought  a  tract 
of  land  in  Richmond  county  from  one  John  Jennings,  but  there 
is  no  further  record  of  it  in  that  county;  but  it  appears  to  have 
been  the  same  tract  of  land  sold  in  1728  by  Thomas  Quisenberry, 
in  King  George  county,  to  John  Finch,  in  the  deed  to  which  lie 
mentions  that  he  received  the  land  under  the  will  of  his  father, 
Humphrey  Quisenberry.  (See  Appendices  III,  2,  and  IV,  1,  2.)  It 
may  further  elucidate  this  matter  to  state  that  Richmond  county 
was  formed  in  1692  from  old  Rappahannock,  and  King  George 
was  formed  in  1720  from  Richmond. 


CHAPTER  III 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THE  FAMILY. 

Before  proceeding  to  trace  the  descendants  of  William  and 
Humphrey  Quisenberry,  it  is  thought  best  to  here  make  a  digres¬ 
sion  for  the  purpose  of  describing  the  characteristics,  peculiarities, 
and,  in  some  respects,  the  history  of  the  Quisenberry  race  in 
America,  which  shall  be  done  as  briefly  as  is  consistent  with  main¬ 
taining  the  interest  of  the  theme  to  those  who  may  be  interested 
in  it. 

It  is  believed  that  it  will  be  freely  admitted  by  all  who  know 
them  that  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the  family  have 
been  honesty,  industry,  candor,  and  thrift.  The  character  of  John 
Quisenberry,  the  founder  of  the  family,  is  perhaps  as  fully  ex¬ 
emplified  in  the  following  extract  from  the  will  of  Tobias  Butler 
(Feb.  17,  1687),  of  Westmoreland  county,  as  it  could  possibly  be 
by  anything,  to  wit: 

“If  my  wife  should  die,  I  leave  my  son,  James  Butler,  unto  my 
loveing  friend,  John  Quessenbury,  and  his  wife;  and  if  my  wife 
should  marry  and  my  children  should  be  abused,  then  my  loveing 
friend,  John  Quessenbury,  to  take  them  and  raise  them.” 

A  man  who  could  inspire  that  kind  of  implicit  trust  in  a 
friend  and  neighbor  was  certainly  a  very  good  kind  of  a  man  to 
start  a  family  with.  Tobias  Butler  was  of  the  prominent  Butler 
family  of  Westmoreland  county,  and  was  undoubtedly  closely  re¬ 
lated  to  Jane  Butler,  who  was  the  first  wife  of  Augustine  Washing¬ 
ton,  the  father  of  George  Washington. 

The  Quisenbcrrys  have  certainly  been  a  patriotic  race,  and 
they  have  shed  their  blood  in  every  American  war  (and  on  both 
sides  of  some  of  them)  since  the  days  of  Queen  Anne.  What  part, 
if  any,  they  bore  in  Bacon’s  Rebellion,  in  Virginia,  in  1676,  is  not 
known,  as  the  records  of  that  war  are  mostly  lost.  In  the  French 
and  Indian  wars  several  of  them  saw  service,  and  one  of  them, 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THE  FAMILY. 


21 


Christopher  Quisenberry,  a  subaltern  of  Westmoreland  militia,  was 
killed  at  Braddock’s  Defeat,  July  1),  1755.  The  MS  papers  of  George 
Washington,  now  on  tile  in  the  Bureau  of  Rolls  and  Library  of 
the  Department  of  State,  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  furnish  the  follow¬ 
ing  information: 

On  a  roll  of  Captain  Charles  Lewis’s  Company  of  the  Virginia 
Regiment,  taken  July  18,  1756,  appears  the  name  of  Nicholas 
Quisenberry,  who  enlisted  in  May,  1756,  in  Westmoreland  county; 
age,  21;  height,  5  feet  5  inches;  planter;  born  in  Virginia;  dark 
complexion;  brown  hair. 

On  a  roll  of  Captain  Joshua  Lewis’s  Company,  taken  July  13, 

1756,  appears  the  name  of  Humphrey  Quisenberry,  who  enlisted 
May  1!),  1755,  at  Fredericksburg;  age,  24  years;  height,  5  feet  6 
inches;  planter;  born  in  Virginia;  dark  complexion.  (He  was 
doubtless  in  Braddock’s  Defeat,  as  his  company,  of  which  he  was 
a  member  at  the  time,  took  part  in  that  battle.) 

On  a  roll  of  Captain  Henry  Woodward’s  Company,  stationed 
at  Fort  Lytleton,  August  22,  1757,  appears  tin*  name  of  Humphrey 
Quisenberry. 

On  another  roll  of  tin'  same  company,  taken  September  24, 

1757,  appears  the  following:  “Humphrey  Quisenberry,  born  in 
V  irginia,  age  24  years,  5  feet  7  1-2  inches  high,  enlisted  in  Hamp¬ 
shire  county;  fair  complexion;  red  hair;  thin  face;  planter.” 

It  is  not  known  how  many  Quisenberrys  served  in  the  Revolu¬ 
tion,  but  record  has  been  found  of  the  following: 

James  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Charles  Porterfield's  Company 
of  Colonel  Daniel  Morgan’s  15th  Virginia  Regiment  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  line. 

Nicholas  Quisenberry,  in  Smallwood's  Brigade  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland  Riflemen.  This  was  a  distinguished  corps. 

Rev.  James  Quisenberry  served  in  the  Virginia  Militia,  and 
was  one  of  the  garrison  of  the  fort  at  Boonesboro,  Ky.,  in  1783. 
and  later. 

John  Qnesenbury,  served  in  a  Virginia  Regiment  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  line. 

In  the  War  of  1812  the  roll  grows  <| n ite  numerous,  viz: 

Daniel  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Daniel  Green's  Company  of 
Colonel  Clark’s  Virginia  Militia.  Pensioned. 


22 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THE  FAMILY. 


James  Qui  sen  berry,  in  Captain  Timothy  Dalton’s,  afterwards 
Captain  Richard  Glasscock’s  Company  of  Virginia  Volunteers. 
Pensioned. 

Roger  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  John  Martin’s  Company  of 
Colonel  Asa  K.  Lewis’s  Regiment  of  Kentucky  Volunteers.  Pen¬ 
sioned. 

Thomas  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Timothy  Dalton’s  Company 
of  Virginia  Volunteers.  Pensioned. 

Vivian  Quisenberry,  in  Colonel  Mason’s  Regiment  of  Virginia 
Volunteers.  Pensioned. 

Edward  Sanford  Quisenberry,  in  the  Virginia  Militia. 

Major  William  S.  Quisenberry,  Surgeon  of  Colonel  Austin 
Smith’s  25th  Virginia  Regiment. 

George  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  James  Daniel’s  Company  of 
Colonel  R.  E.  Parker’s  30th  Virginia  Regiment. 

William  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Win.  H.  Hooe’s  Company, 
25th  Virginia  Regiment. 

William  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  John  T.  Lomax’s  Company 
of  Colonel  Vincent  Branham’s  41st  Virginia  Regiment. 

William  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Josiah  Penick’s  Company, 
7th  Virginia  Regiment. 

James  Quisenberry,  in  Captain  Joseph  Reddish's  Company  of 
Colonel  Samuel  H.  Payton’s  45tli  Virginia  Regiment. 

So  far  as  is  known,  none  served  in  the  Mexican  War  except 
Captain  William  D.  Quesenbury,  who  served  in  a  regiment  of 
Arkansas  Cavalry  and  Roger  Tandy  Quisenberry,  who  was  a  sub¬ 
altern  in  Captain  John  S.  William’s  Company  of  Independent  Ken¬ 
tucky  Cavalry. 

In  the  Civil  War,  1861-’65,  quite  a  number  served,  principally 
on  the  Confederate  side,  and  some  of  these  will  be  mentioned  here¬ 
after,  as  this  work  progresses.  From  Clark  county,  Ky.,  none  went 
except  into  the  Confederate  service,  and  they  were  as  follows: 

In  the  “Orphan  Brigade” — James  H.  Quisenberry,  William 
Quisenberry,  Philip  Quisenberry. 

In  Cluke’s  Regiment,  Morgan’s  Command— Elkanah  Quisen¬ 
berry,  Ezekiel  Pi.  Quisenberry,  Claudius  V.  Quisenberry,  Richard 
Quisenberry,  Silas  Quisenberry. 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THETAMILY. 


23 


Iii  Cheuault’s  Regiment,  Morgan’s  Command — Joel  T.  Quisen 
berry,  Robert  Quisenberry,  Benjamin  Quisenberry. 

Generally  the  Quisenberrys  have  been  without  ambition  for 
fame  or  eminence  in  the  opinions  of  men,  and  consequently  but  few 
of  them  have  sought  or  obtained  office  or  high  position  of  any  kind. 

Physically,  the  male  members  of  the  family  originally  were 
generally  very  tall,  most  of  them  being  more  than  six  feet  feet  in 
height,  and  some  of  them  reaching  six  feet  six  inches.  Some 
branches  of  the  family  still  retain  this  characteristic.  The  race 
is  generally  a  long-lived  one,  many  of  them  having  attained  the  age 
of  ninety  years,  and  in  1890  one  of  them  died  in  King  George 
county,  Virginia,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six.  The  generation  born 
toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  were  quite  prolific.  George 
Quisenberry,  of  Orange  county,  Virginia,  had  twenty-two  chil¬ 
dren;  his  brother,  Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  of  Clark  county.  Ken¬ 
tucky,  had  twenty-four,  and  his  (James’)  son,  Tandy  Quisenberry, 
had  nineteen.  Edward  Sanford  Quisenberry,  of  Logan  county, 
Illinois,  had  twenty-two,  and  nearly  all  of  the  others  ran  from 
that  number  on  down  to  the  more  moderate  output  of  ten  or  dozen. 

The  original  members  of  the  family  in  Virginia  were  Episco¬ 
palians.  and,  judging  from  the  expressions  of  the  pioneer,  John 
Quisenberry,  in  his  will,  dated  November  23,  1714,  he  must  have 
been  extremely  pious.  The  preamble  ran:  “In  the  name  of  God, 
Amen!  I,  John  Quisenberry,  of  the  Parish  of  Washington,  and 
County  of  Westmoreland,  being  sick  of  body,  but  of  perfect  mind 
and  memory,  doe  make,  ordain  and  publish  this  my  last  will  and 
testament  in  manner  and  form  following,  vizt:  revokeing  and  dis- 
anuling  all  and  every  will  and  wills  and  testaments  by  me  hereto¬ 
fore  made  and  declared  either  by  word  or  writing,  and  this  to  be 
taken  only  for  my  last  will  and  testament,  and  none  other;  and 
being  penitent  and  sorry  for  my  past  sins  and  humbly  praying  for¬ 
giveness  for  them,  I  give  my  soul  unto  Almighty  God,  my  Saviour 
and  Redeemer,  and  believe  myself  assuredly  to  be  saved,  and  ihat 
my  soul  with  my  body  at  Ihe  genera  11  day  of  resurrection  shall 
rise  again  with  joy  and  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  prepared 
for  His  elect.” 


24 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THE  FAMILY. 


The  parsons  sent  out  from  England  by  the  ecclesiastical  an 
thorities  for  (he  cure  of  souls  in  Virginia  were  generally  an  in¬ 
ferior  lot,  whom  the  English  were  glad  to  he  rid  of  at  any  pi-ice. 
In  Virginia  many  of  (hem  paid  no  more  attention  to  spiritual  affairs 
than  was  involved  in  a  perfunctory  mumbling  of  the  service  on 
Sundays,  and  the  collection  of  their  tithes;  but  they  could  generally 
hold  their  own  at  drinking,  gambling,  horse-racing,  cock-lighting, 
and  hard  swearing.  The  sturdy  Virginians  never  at  any  time 
looked  upon  these  men  with  much  allowance,  but  rather  bore  the 
infliction  with  Christian  resignation  and  forbearance.  So  the  times 
were  ripe  for  a  general  religious  upheaval  when  the  Methodists 
and  Baptists,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  began 
almost  simultaneously  to  make  a  stir  in  the  Old  Dominion.  Some 
of  the  Quisenberrys  about  that  time  became  Methodists,  but  most 
of  them  were  gathered  up  by  the  great  Baptist  revival  which 
swept  through  the  colony  like  a  hurricane.  Others  had  already  be¬ 
come  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  who 
had  settled  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century.  At  this  time  (1897)  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  name  who  were  connected  with  any  church  at  all 
are  Baptists.  However,  I  personally  know  members  of  different 
branches  of  the  family  who  are  Catholics,  Episcopalians,  Presby¬ 
terians,  Methodists,  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  and  Disciples  of 
Christ. 

Among  the  family  have  been  many  Baptist  and  a  few  Metho¬ 
dist  and  Presbyterian  ministers;  many  physicians,  a  few  lawyers, 
and  some  merchants.  Most  of  them,  however,  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  past,  have  been  farmers  and  planters,  and  these 
have  invariably  owned  their  own  land.  The  only  Episcopal  min¬ 
ister  among  them,  so  far  as  known,  was  Thomas  Quissinborow, 
curate  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  London,  in  1673,  heretofore  re¬ 
ferred  to. 

The  descendants  of  John  Quisenberry  are  now  scattered,  so  far 
as  known,  through  the  following  States  and  Territories  of  the 
Cnion,  and  are  numerous  in  most  of  them,  to  wit,  Virginia,  Mary¬ 
land,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Georgia,  Tennessee, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Ne¬ 
braska,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SERVICES  OF  THE  FAMILY. 


25 


Indian  Territory,  and  they  are  almost  “as  the  sands  of  the  sea  for 
number.'’  It  would  be  impossible  for  one  man  to  trace  even  a  tithe 
of  them  in  a  life-time,  but  it  is  curious  to  see  how  many  descendants, 
even  of  his  own  name,  one  man  of  nine  or  ten  generations  ago,  like 
John  Quisenberry,  can  have  to-day. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


The  descendants  of  William,  the  elder  son  of  John  Quisenberrv, 
in  Westmoreland  county,  may  be  easily  traced  by  the  records  of 
that  county,  even  down  to  the  present  day.  It  appears  that  some 
of  them  intermarried  with  the  Baynes,  Dodds,  Mothersheads, 
Weavers,  Hazels,  Deans,  Brocks,  Popes,  Moxleys,  Hungerfords, 
Stoops,  Welches,  Marmadukes,  and  Riggs.  No  attempt  will  be 
made  to  follow  this  numerous  branch  of  the  family,  but  merely 
to  state  briefly  the  matters  of  interest  connected  with  it,  which 
seem  to  be  mainly  clustered  about  one  line  of  its  descent.  The 
generations  of  this  line,  beginning  with  the  founder,  are  as  follows: 
( 1)  John,  (2)  William  1,  (3)  William  2,  (4)  Nicholas  I,  (5)  Nicholas  2, 
(6)  George,  (7)  Nicholas  3,  (8)  Nicholas  4,  who  also  has  children; 
making  nine  generations  of  this  family  who  have  lived  in  Virginia. 
Nicholas  2,  was  probably  the  wealthiest  man  of  the  Quisenberry 
name  who  ever  lived  in  Virginia.  His  daughter,  Catherine,  or 
“Catie,”  married  Jonathan  Rigg,  and  one  of  her  descendants  has 
furnished  a  list  of  her  generations,  as  follows: 

THE  GENERATIONS  OF  CATIE  RIGG. 

Catherine  Quisenberry,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  of 
Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  was  born  about  1770.  Married 
Jonathan  Rigg  in  1792.  Moved  to  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  1807.  Had 
eleven  children,  of  whom  four  died  young.  Was  left  a  widow  in 
1834,  and  moved  to  Jackson,  Mississippi,  with  her  daughter  Eliza¬ 
beth  in  1839,  and  died  there  September  4, 1849.  Children: 

1.  Mary  Rigg — Born  in  1794  or  ’96;  married  Mr.  Hawkins,  and 
died  young,  leaving  one  daughter,  Mary,  who  was  born  about  1825. 
In  1845  she  married  Ambrose  Dudley,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  where  she 
now  dwells  a  widow.  She  had  four  children:  Winslow,  Charles 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WJLUAM  QUISENBERRY. 


27 

(died  young),  William  (died  young),  and  Mary,  wlio  married  Dr. 
Short,  of  Cincinnati. 

2.  Basil  Quisenberry  Bigg — Born  in  1800;  educated  at  Tran¬ 
sylvania  University  and  went  to  Louisiana  to  practice  law  about 
1826,  and  settled  at  Alexandria,  in  that  State.  May  11),  1833,  he 
was  killed  by  the  explosion  of  the  steamer  “Lioness,”  gunpowder 
in  hold,  on  Red  river.  Not  married. 

3.  Elizabeth  Rigg — Born  May  2,  1803,  and  about  1826  mar¬ 
ried  Hon.  Charles  Humphreys,  Circuit  Judge  and  Professor  of 
Law  in  Transylvania  University,  who  died  in  1830.  They  had  one 
child,  Charles  William  Humphreys.  She  was  married  again  on 
May  30,  1833,  to  Hon.  Daniel  Mayes,  Circuit  Judge  and  Professor 
of  Law  in  Transylvania  University.  (Curious  coincidence:  Mayes 
followed  Humphreys  in  Judgeship,  Professorship  and  wife.)  They 
moved  to  Jackson,  Mississippi,  in  1839,  where  she  was  left  a  widow 
on  February  6,  1861.  She  bore  Judge  Mayes  three  children:  Basil, 
Daniel,  and  Edward.  Her  son,  Charles  William  Humphreys,  was  a 
physician  and  planter.  In  1859  he  married  Miss  Kate  A.  Scott, 
of  Jefferson  county,  Mississippi.  In  the  Civil  War  he  was  a  First 
Lieutenant  in  Wilburn’s  Battalion  of  Mississippi  Cavalry,  and  was 
killed  in  a  skirmish  before  Port  Hudson,  in  1863.  He  left  two 
daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Matilda.  Her  son,  Basil  Rigg  Mayes,  was 
born  in  1835,  and  is  a  lawyer  living  at  Carrollton,  Mississippi.  He 
was  a  First  Lieutenant  in  the  lltli  Mississippi  Infantry,  and  was 
wounded  at  Antietam.  Married  Miss  Alethea  McIntyre,  of  Car¬ 
rollton,  Mississippi,  and  died  childless  on  November  II,  1871.  Daniel 
Mayes  was  born  in  1839;  Corporal  in  the  4th  Mississippi  Cavalry, 
and  is  a  planter  near  Oxford,  Mississippi.  Edward  Mayes,  born 
December  15,  1846,  was  a  private  in  the  4th  Mississippi  Cavalry. 
Graduated  at  the  University  of  Mississippi  in  June,  1868.  Married 
on  May  11,  1869,  Miss  Frances  Eliza  Lamar,  daughter  of  Hon.  L. 
Q.  C.  Lamar,  who  has  served  as  a  United  States  Senator  and  as  a 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Edward  Mayes  has  been  a  lawyer 
since  1870,  and  in  1877  was  elected  Professor  of  Law  in  the  Univer- 
sity  of  Mississippi  and  made  Chancellor  of  the  University  in  1886. 
Has  seven  children — Mary  Lamar,  Lucien  Lamar  (died  in  infancy), 
Elizabeth  Lamar,  Lucius  Lamar  (died  in  infancy),  Elizabeth  Lamar, 
Edward  Walthall  (died  a  child),  Lucius  Lamar,  Francis  Lamar, 
Basil  Robert. 


28 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


4.  Edward  Rigg — Born  in  1805;  went  to  Alexandria,  Louis¬ 
iana,  to  practice  law,  and  died  there  about  1840;  unmarried. 

5.  Alexander  Moxlev  Rigg — Born  in  1809;  farmer;  lived  at 
Owensboro,  Kentucky,  and  died  there  some  years  ago,  leaving  a 
large  number  of  descendants.  Mr.  H.  B.  Rigg,  of  Glasgow,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  is  his  son. 

G.  Jane  TV.  Rigg — Born  in  1813,  and  moved  to  Jackson,  Mis¬ 
sissippi,  in  1S39,  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Mayes.  In  1850,  married 
Barry  TV.  Humphreys,  her  sister’s  step-son,  and  moved  to  Austin, 
Texas,  her  husband's  home,  and  now7  lives  at  Good  Luck,  Texas. 
Their  only  child,  Parry  W.  Humphreys,  born  in  1857,  is  married  and 
has  a  small  family. 

7.  Thomas  J.  Rigg — Born  in  1817;  w7ent  in  1848  to  New 
Orleans,  where  he  married  a  French  woman,  name  not  remembered, 
and  in  1869  died,  childless. 

Colonel  William  C.  Marmaduke,  of  the  late  Confederate  Army, 
has  served  several  terms  as  Sheriff  of  Westmoreland  county,  Vir¬ 
ginia,  and  now  holds  that  office.  He  is  the  grandson  of  Georg'e 
Quisenberry,  son  of  Nicholas2. 

Nicholas  3,  son  of  George,  owned  an  extensive  plantation  on 
Machodoc  creek,  one  mile  from  the  Potomac  river,  in  King  George 
county,  where  his  son,  Nicholas  4,  lived  until  his  death  in  1894. 
Nicholas 3  married  Miss  Rose  Green,  of  “Rosedale,”  between 
Georgetown  and  Tenallytown,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  her 
brother  was  the  original  owmer  of  “Oak  View,”  or  “Red  Top” 
(adjoining  “Rosedale”),  wdiic-h  was  subsequently  purchased  by  Presi¬ 
dent  Cleveland  as  a  residence.  One  of  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  sisters 
married  a  son  of  the  Emperor  Iturbide,  of  Mexico,  who  w7as  a  stu¬ 
dent  at  the  Catholic  University  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  Mrs.  Itur- 
bide’s  son,  Prince  Augustine  Iturbide,  w7as  the  protege  and  de¬ 
clared  successor  to  the  ill-fated  Emperor  Maximillian,  and  is  now7 
llie  only  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne  of  Mexico  in  case  its  present 
republican  form  of  government  should  be  abolished,  which,  indeed, 
is  probable  enough  in  that  land  of  revolutions. 

Another  very  interesting  incident  connected  with  this  Mrs. 
Nicholas  Quisenberry  was  recited  at  length  in  a  letter  from  George 
Alfred  Townsend,  the  great  newspaper  correspondent,  published 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


29 


in  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  of  August  1,  1884.  From  this  letter 
such  portions  are  here  extracted  as  cover  the  main  points  of  the 
story. 

After  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  in  April,  1865, 
by  John  Wilkes  Booth,  the  assassin  and  his  confederate,  Herold, 
fled  together,  and  at  Port  Tobacco,  Maryland,  they  crossed  the 
Potomac  in  a  boat,  for  which  Booth  paid  twenty  dollars  in  gold, 
and  landed  in  Virginia  on  the  farm  of  a  man  named  Bryan,  a  near 
neighbor  of  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s.  Mr.  Townsend  (“Gath”)  then  tells 
the  story  as  follows: 

*  *  *-  “Herold  wanted  to  buy  two  horses,  one  for  him¬ 

self  and  one  for  Booth,  and  Bryan  rather  demurred  to  selling  his, 
but  said  that  Mrs.  Quisenberry,  who  lived  close  by,  had  several 
horses,  and  wanted  money.  Herold  therefore  set  off  to  this  lady’s 
house,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant.  Here  a  word  about  the 
topography  of  the  country.  The  Potomac,  opposite  to  Pope’s  creek, 
Maryland,  is  only  three  miles  wide,  but  both  aliove  and  below  it  is 
much  wider.  Mr.  Jones,  in  Maryland,  had  directed  the  two  fugi¬ 
tives  to  enter  Machodoc  creek,  and  find  the  house  of  Mrs.  Quisen- 
Lerry.  Machodoc  creek  is  about  a  mile  wide,  and  the  first  house  on 
its  northern  bank  is  the  lady’s  mentioned.  *  *  *  Bryan,  in  his 

little  hut,  had  no  slaves,  but  Mrs.  Quisenberry  had  a  delightful  cot¬ 
tage,  and  was  highly  connected,  and  would  have  been  a  superior 
woman  anywhere.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Mr.  Green,  of  Iiose- 
dale,  an  estate  between  Washington  and  its  suburb  of  Tenallv- 
town.  Her  sister  had  married  the  son  of  the  Emperor  Iturbide, 
of  Mexico,  and  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  nephew  was,  at  the  very  time 
Booth  stopped  at  this  house,  a  protege,  and  perhaps  adopted  son, 
of  the  Emperor  Maximillian.  This  little  incident  seems  to  connect, 
in  some  measure,  the  fates  of  two  distinguished  men,  one  of  whom 
speedily  followed  tin*  other  to  a  violent  death.  The  Emperor  Itur- 
1  file’s  son  had  been  a  student  at  Georgetown  College,  in  the  vicinity 
of  which  Mr.  Green  lived.  Mr.  Quisenberry  had  been  a  Virginia 
planter,  with  slaves  and  good  connections,  and  his  house  was  not 
many  miles  from  Washington’s  birthplace.  The  house  was  a  beauti¬ 
ful  cottage,  trellised  and  ornamented,  and  with  a  lawn  in  front  of 
it  reaching  to  the  wide  creek,  hardly  fifty  yards  distant,  and  on  this 


30 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBKRKY. 


lawn,  among  other  cabins,  was  a  small  school-house,  fitted  up  for 
the  education  of  the  children  of  the  family  who  had  a  governess 
by  the  name  of  Miss  Duncanson.  During  the  war  the  rebel  govern- 
ernment  had  established  on  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  farm  their  per¬ 
manent  signal  station  to  communicate  with  other  rebels  in  Mary¬ 
land,  and  hold  open  their  mail  route  to  the  North  and  Canada.  The 
signal  officers,  as  a  rule,  were  genteel  men,  and  they  all  thought 
highly  of  their  hostess,  who  was  then  about  fifty  years  old.  They 
occupied  the  school-house,  at  least  two  of  them  did,  and  one  of 
these  was  a  Maryland  gentleman  named  Thomas  Harbin.  This 
man  was  one  of  the  original  confidants  of  John  Wilkes  Booth  in 
the  Scheme  to  abduct  President  Lincoln.  Having  been  several 
times  in  his  company,  I  can  say  of  him,  as  of  his  brother-in-law, 
Thomas  A.  Jones,  who  ‘‘held  the  fort,”  so  to  speak,  for  the  Confed¬ 
eracy,  on  the  other  shore — that  while  they  do  not  conform  to  my 
ideas  of  politics,  they  materially  softened  my  feelings  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  Mr.  Lincoln’s  abduction  by  the  frankness  and  fidelity  of 
their  character.  Harbin  was  a  representative-looking  Marylander, 
tall,  almost  gaunt,  yet  supple,  with  a  smile  ever  on  his  countenance; 
dark-brown  hair,  high  cheek  bones,  with  somewhat  sunken  cheeks; 
but  cautions,  and  thoughtful,  and  tender  to  women.  He  had  as 
much  respect  for  Mrs.  Quisenberry  and  her  family  as  if  she  had 
been  the  wife  of  Jefferson  Davis.  *  *  *  He  took  intense  interest 

in  the  Southern  cause,  reported  at  Richmond,  and  was  intrusted 
with  the  business  of  opening  a  mail  route  to  the  North.  On  the 
opposite  shore  lived  Thomas  A.  Jones,  at  a  point  where  the  bluffs 
of  Maryland  rise  at  least  one  hundred  feet  high.  Jones'  first  wife 
had  been  Harbin's  sister.  It  required  no  Masonic  oath  to  bind 
these  men  together.  They  were  the  life  of  the  Confederacy  in  its 
communication  with  Maryland  and  the  North.  Jones,  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  war,  had  nightly  crossed  the  river  with  passengers  for 
the  South.  Arrested  once  on  his  return  home  from  Richmond,  he 
was  sent  to  prison  in  Washington  and  kept  there  several  months. 
When  he  was  let  out  by  some  jail-opening  commission,  he  returned 
home  to  find  everything  broken  up  by  the  war;  and  Harbin  came 
to  him,  after  he  had  refused  a  man  named  Crimes,  and  they  agreed 
to  keep  the  ferry  open.  Every  day  toward  evening  a  boat  left 
Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  place  and  crossed  the  river  in  the  gray  light 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBEllRY 


31 


to  a  place  where  the  rebel  mail  was  deposited,  under  the  bluffs 
of  Maryland,  in  a  stump.  This  mail  was  taken  out,  a  pouch  from 
the  South  substituted,  and  the  boat  stole  off  in  the  gray  evening, 
unobserved,  just  as  the  Federal  pickets  were  planted  along  the 
bluff,  which  was  done  about  sundown.  If  Jones  had  kept  the  boat 
on  his  side  of  the  river  the  Federals  would  have  seized  and  de¬ 
stroyed  it.  And  so  the  courier  spirit  lodged  all  day  in  Virginia,  at 
Mrs.  Quisenberry’s,  and  flew  once,  toward  night,  to  Maryland,  and 
silently  returned  *  *  *  * 

*  *  *  “Harbin  had  heard  of  the  President’s  assassina¬ 

tion  on  Wednesday,  five  days  after  it  occurred.  He  then  knew  that 
his  friend  Booth  had  done  the  deed.  The  family  circle  at  Mrs. 
Quisenberry’s  discussed  the  matter  in  all  the  Christian  spirit  of  a 
Northern  household.  Miss  Lucy  Hooe,  an  interesting  lady,  now 
married,  said  at  that  circle:  ‘This  crime  will  hurt  the  Southern 
people  more  than  the  whole  war  has  done.  It  has  no  good  motive; 
was  the  ending  of  a  man  probably  simple  and  honest,  and  its  re¬ 
sults  will  fall  on  us  and  our  friends.’  They  little  knew  while  they 
wyre  talking  by  the  wood-fire  that  April  day  that  the  President’s 
murderer  was  steering  toward  them.  There  was  a  sick  person  in 
the  house,  or  neighborhood,  and  Harbin  had  taken  a  boat,  in  com¬ 
pany  with  one  of  his  military  associates  named  Baden,  and  crossed 
Machodoc  creek  to  the  fine  estate  of  Colonel  Baker,  who  had 
hot  houses  and  raised  oranges  and  lemons  to  make  lemonade.  On 
his  return  the  wind  blew  up  from  the  Potomac  river  and  made 
the  crossing  almost  dangerous,  so  that  they  had  to  creep  around 
by  the  shores;  and  so  they  came  to  the  lawn  of  Mrs.  Quisenberry, 
who,  by  the  way,  was  known  to  all  the  neighbors  as  Mrs.  ‘Cuesen- 
berry.’  Miss  Duncanson,  the  governess,  came  down  to  the  boat  and 
said:  ‘Mr.  Harbin,  there  is  a  strange  man  here  who  has  come  to 
buy  horses.’  Baden  went  up  to  reconnoiter,  and  returned,  saying: 
‘He  says  his  name  is  Herold.’  Harbin’s  heart  sank  a  little.  He 
knew  Herold,  and  that  he  was  one  of  Booth’s  conspirators,  and 
that  probably  the  assassin  himself  was  close  at  hand.  He  said 
nothing  to  the  lady,  however,  but  went  up  to  the  house,  and  there 
he  saw  Herold  covered  with  dirt,  filth  and  grime;  unwashed,  un¬ 
combed,  the  picture  of  a  vacant-minded  tramp.  He  took  him  apart 
and  asked:  ‘Herold,  where’s  Booth?’  ‘He’s  over  here  at  the  next 


32 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBEKKY. 


farm,  and  you  must  go  and  see  him/  said  Herold.  Baden  and 
Harbin  took  Herold  down  to  the  school-house  on  the  lawn,  and  had 
him  washed  and  combed  and  made  human.  At  the  time  Herold 
arrived  Mrs.  Quisenberry  was  not  at  home,  but  had  gone  on  her 
horse,  Virginia  fashion,  to  some  neighboring  place.  She  arrived 
at  home,  however,  while  Herold  was  there,  and  was  disposed  to  sell 
him  horses,  because  the  close  of  the  war  had  reduced  her  to  pov¬ 
erty  and  she  could  not  keep  her  horses.  Harbin,  with  his 

thoughtfulness  for  the  woman,  took  her  aside  and  said: 
‘You  must  not  sell  this  man  a  horse.  There  are  circum¬ 
stances  connected  with  him  which  make  it  my  duty  to 

tell  you  to  give  him  nothing  more  than  something  to  eat.’  If  the 
lad}r  had  sold  Herold  a  horse  it  might  have  been  to  the  prejudice 
of  her  liberty  in  the  subsequent  court-martial  proceedings.  Not  a 
word  was  said  by  Harbin  to  any  member  of  this  family  as  to  Booth 
being  in  the  neighborhood  until  he  had  returned  from  his  visit 
to  Booth  that  evening.  Mrs.  Quisenberry  was  at  the  time  a  widow. 
Her  husband  died  during  the  war,  and  was  buried  at  the  little 

church  at  Hampstead,  in  the  neighborhood.  She  had  two  sons 

and  two  daughters,  all  young.  The  Hooe  farm,  on  which  Booth’s 
boat  landed,  in  the  neighborhood,  bore  the  name  of  ‘Barnesfield,’ 
and  that  which  he  had  embarked  from  in  Maryland,  ‘Brentsfield.’ 
The  rebel  signal  camp  had  been  on  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  farm  for 
about  eighteen  months.  Harbin  had  not  been  at  her  house  for  some 
little  time,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  Richmond  was  aban¬ 
doned,  he  had  returned  there,  and  was  waiting  a  few  days  with 
nothing  to  do.  *  *  *  Herold  arrived  at  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s 
house  at  10  or  11  o’clock  in  the  morning.  He  and  Booth  had 
landed  in  Virginia  before  daylight,  and  had  gone  quite  early  to 
Bryan’s  house.  About  2  o’clock  he  departed  on  foot,  having  par¬ 
taken  of  food,  and  he  carried  with  him  a  lunch  for  Booth.  The  day 
had  become  beautiful,  though  somewhat  windy,  and  the  fields  were 
dry  and  all  the  frost  out  of  them.  Back  of  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s 
house  extend  two  large  fields,  reaching  almost  a  mile,  and  thus  he 
entered  the  woods  and  walked  in  them  to  the  small  clearing  around 
Bryan’s  house.  *  *  * 

*  *  *  “Bryan  told  everything  he  knew  in  Washington, 

and  Harbin,  aware  that  he  had  put  himself  in  jeopardy,  concluded 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


33 


to  stay  right  at  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s  house  and  not  to  run  away. 
The  scent  came  very  close  to  him,  but  he  was  so  gentlemanly  and 
obliging  that  the  very  officers  of  the  law  became  rather  confidential 
with  him.  When  he  had  returned  from  his  last  farewell  with 
Booth  he  told  the  folks  at  the  house  who  their  caller  had  been, 
and  they  conferred  together.  After  Booth  had  been  killed  Lieu¬ 
tenant  Baker  and  a  detective  and  some  soldiers  came  to  the  place 
to  make  inquiries  for  Wilson  (Harbin's  assumed  name).  Harbin 
kept  out  of  sight  as  much  as  possible.  The  officers  said  it  was 
necessary  that  some  one  person  should  go  up  to  Washington  to 
testify  before  the  Judge  Advocate.  Harbin  rather  pressed  that 
he  should  go,  though  the  contrary  was  His  design.  Mrs.  Quisen- 
berry  said  she  couldn’t  go  on  account  of  her  children.  Baden 
quietly  dropped  the  remark  that  he  had  an  old  mother  in  Washing¬ 
ton  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  four  years,  and  the  humane  officers 
took  him  along  instead  of  Harbin.  Baden’s  reward,  however,  was 
to  be  sent  to  prison  for  about  six  weeks.  A  steamboat  came  up 
Machodoc  creek  not  long  afterwards  and  Mrs.  Quisenberry  was 
informed  that  she  would  have  to  go  to  Washington.  She  demurred, 
but  was  told  she  could  take  her  children  along,  and  that  her  ex¬ 
penses  would  be  paid  by  the  Government;  and  she  was  allowed, 
while  in  that  city,  to  stay  at  the  home  of  her  childhood,  Rosedale, 
but  came  into  the  city  every  day  to  be  examined.  *  *  *  * 

*  *  *  “The  boat  in  which  Booth  had  crossed  the  river 

was  seized  by  the  Government  at  Mrs.  Quisenberry’s,  and  it  is  not 
known  what  became  of  it.  Mr.  Harbin  says  that  Booth,  in  his  be¬ 
lief,  was  never  in  Richmond  during  tin1  war.  *  *  *  The  rebel 

mail  service  which  Jones  conducted  was  almost  as  efficient  as  the 
baited  States  mail  at  the  present  time.  Washington,  Baltimore, 
and  New  York  papers  were  subscribed  for  by  different  rebel  in¬ 
dividuals  in  the  vicinity  of  Allen’s  Fresh,  the  subscription  price 
being  paid  by  the  Confederacy,  and  one  person  would  go  and  call 
for  the  mail  of  all  the  neighbors.  These  papers  would  be  deposited 
in  tin1  stump  under  Jones’  Bluff,  and  then  the  boat  would  come 
over,  as  described  in  the  gray  of  the  evening,  and  leave  rebel 
mail  and  take  the  papers  out,  and  the  next  morning  they  would 
be  in  Richmond,  going  by  way  of  Port  Conway,  Port  Royal,  and 
Bowling  Green.  This  became  the  great  route  for  blockade-runners 
and  go-betweens,  and  finally  Booth’s  route.” 


34 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


Mr.  Nicholas  Quisenberry  assured  the  writer  of  this  history 
personally  that  this  account  of  the  affair,  so  far  as  his  mother  was 
concerned  in  it,  is  substantially  correct,  except  that  Herold,  when 
he  came  to  the  house,  was  almost  in  a  state  of  physical  collapse, 
through  fright,  and  blurted  out  his  whole  story  to  those  of  the 
family  who  were  at  home,  and  even  in  the  presence  of  the  colored 
servants.  When  Harbin  and  Herold  went  to  rejoin  Booth  in  the 
wood,  Nicholas,  who  was  then  quite  a  young  boy,  went  along  with 
them;  and  they  carried  an  old-fashioned  carpet-sack  which  his 
mother,  out  of  humanity,  had  filled  with  food  for  the  fugitives.  Mr. 
Quiseuberry  said  that  they  “found  Booth  sitting  under  a  walnut 
tree  in  the  woods — the  wildest-looking  maniac  I  ever  saw.”  Booth 
gave  the  boat  in  which  he  and  Herold  had  crossed  the  river  to 
young  Nicholas.  It  was  afterwards  seized  by  the  Government  de¬ 
tectives,  who  paid  him  for  it.  It  was  taken  to  Washington  and 
deposited  at  the  Navy  Yard,  but  for  some  years  past  has  been  one 
of  the  attractions  at  the  National  Museum. 

When  Booth  and  Herold,  a  few  days  later,  were  cornered  in 
a  barn  at  Mr.  Garrett’s,  in  Caroline  county,  Herold  proposed  to 
surrender  after  the  barn  was  fired,  and  Booth  cursed  him  for  a 
coward,  and  asked  permission  to  shoot  him.  This  Herold  declined; 
and  Booth  then  pushed  him  to  the  opening,  saying:  “Quarter  for 
this  man,  he  surrenders,”  at  the  same  time  shooting  himself  and 
dying  by  his  own  hand.  This  story  is  somewhat  different  from  the 
accepted  version,  but  Nicholas  Quiseuberry  had  it  from  Mr.  Harbin, 
who  had  it  from  Herold  himself,  during  his  imprisonment  previous 
to  his  execution.  Mr.  Harbin  was  subsequently  for  many  years  a 
clerk  at  the  National  Hotel,  in  Washington  City,  and  died  at  his 
home  in  that  city  in  1891. 

Before  Booth  shot  himself  he  threw  into  the  fire  of  the  burn¬ 
ing  barn  the  carpet-bag  which  Mrs.  Quisenberry  had  filled  with 
food  for  himself  and  Herold,  thinking,  no  doubt,  to  destroy  it,  and 
thus,  almost  with  his  last  act,  endeavoring  to  shield  the  charitable 
lady  who  had  fed  him  in  his  need,  for  her  name  was  embroidered  in 
full  on  the  inside  of  the  bag.  The  bag,  however,  was  rescued  from 
the  flames,  and  was  the  cause  of  getting  Mrs.  Quisenberry  into 
what  might  have  been  serious  trouble,  from  which  she  was  rescued 
only  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  her  brothers,  who  were  among  the 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


35 


strongest  and  most  influential  Union  men  in  the  District  of  Colum¬ 
bia.  Mrs.  Quisenberry  is  still  living  and  resides  in  Texas  with  her 
daughter  Alice,  who  was  married  in  the  Oak  View7  Manor,  D.  C., 
then  the  property  of  her  uncle,  Mr.  Osceola  Green,  afterwards  that 
of  President  Cleveland. 

One  of  the  descendants  of  the  first  William  Quisenberry,  also 
named  Nicholas,  settled  in  North  Carolina,  and  became  the  founder 
of  the  North  Carolina  branch  of  the  family,  as  also  of  those  in 
Tennessee,  Arkansas,  and  Texas,  in  part.  The  records  of  Westmore¬ 
land  county,  Virginia,  show  that  on  September  20,  1780,  Nicholas 
Quesenbury  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  of  the  Parish  of  Margate, 
Wake  county,  North  Carolina,  sold  to  Lawrence  Pope  a  plantation 
in  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  containing  460  acres  of  land, 
“for  the  consideration  of  sixty  thousand  pounds,  current  money.” 
This,  of  course,  was  in  the  depreciated  Continental  money  of  the 
Revolution.  One  of  their  descendants,  Mr.  N.  F.  Henderson,  of 
Houston,  Texas,  has  furnished  a  list  of  the  descendants  of  one  of 
Ihe  children  of  this  Nicholas  Quesenbury,  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife, 
as  follows: 

William  Minor  Quesenbury,  born  in  Wake  county,  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  June  14,  1777,  and  his  wife,  Betsey  Quesenbury,  born  in  East 
Tennessee,  January  18,  1787.  Their  children  were: 

Sallie  Quesenbury,  born  March  7,  1806,  in  Rutherford  county, 
Tennessee. 

Thomas  Quesenbury,  born  June  20,  1808,  in  Franklin  county, 
Tennessee. 

Robert  Quesenbury,  born  September  20,  1810,  in  Franklin 
county,  Tennessee. 

Betsey  Quesenbury,  born  January  30,  1814. 

William  I).  Quesenbury,  born  July  2,  1816,  in  Fayetteville, 
Tennessee. 

Richard  Quesenbury,  born  November,  1818. 

Mary  Ann  Quesenbury,  born  September  12,  1821. 

Susan  Quesenbury,  born  April  13,  1823,  in  Franklin  county, 
Tennessee. 

Julia  Quesenbury,  born  August  14,  1825,  in  Franklin  county, 
Tennessee. 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


36 


F.  A.  Quesenbnry,  born  December  20,  1827,  in  Franklin  county, 
Tennessee. 

William  Minor  Quesenbnry,  the  father  of  this  family,  was  for 
some  years  the  Collector  of  Public  Moneys  at  Fayetteville,  Tennes¬ 
see,  and  was,  so  far  as  is  known,  the  first  of  the  name  to  hold  a  Gov¬ 
ernment  office.  Information  has  been  received  concerning  only  a 
few  of  his  children.  His  eldest  daughter,  Sallie,  married  Colonel 
Alfred  Henderson,  concerning  whom  Ihe  following  notice  appeared 
in  the  Houston  (Texas)  Daily  Post,  in  1893: 

“Colonel  Alfred  Henderson  (born  March  9,  1797,  in  Rocking¬ 
ham  Township,  North  Carolina,  died  in  Scliulenburg,  Texas,  Novem¬ 
ber  IS,  1893),  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Henderson,  who  was  the 
brother  of  Colonel  Richard  Henderson,  the  chief  proprietor  of  the 
Colony  of  Transylvania,  which  afterwards  became  the  State  of 
Kentucky.  Samuel  Henderson's  wife  (and  the  mother  of  Colonel 
Alfred  Henderson)  was  Betsey  Callaway,  the  eldest  of  the  three 
girls  who  were  captured  by  Indians  at  Boonesboro;  and  Samuel 
Henderson,  her  future  husband,  was  one  of  the  party  who  rescued 
them. 

“While  Colonel  Alfred  Henderson  was  still  a  young  man  he 
went  to  Tennessee,  where  he  was  married  July  23,  1823,  to  Sallie 
Quesenbnry,  of  Winchester,  in  that  State.  In  1837  he  went  to 
Arkansas,  where  he  was  State  Collector  of  Public  Money  under 
the  Whig  administration.  In  1846  he  returned  to  Tennessee,  and 
in  1852  he  went  to  Texas,  living  at  different  times  in  Austin 
and  Fayette  Counties.  During  the  war  he  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 
in  Austin  County,  and  also  Tax  Collector  for  the  Confederate  Gov¬ 
ernment. 

“To  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Henderson  were  born  eleven  children — 
six  sons  and  five  daughters.  Mrs.  Henderson  died  in  1872.  Colonel 
Henderson’s  son-in-law  represented  Fayette  county  in  the  Legis¬ 
lature  several  times.  Another  son-in-law,  Dr.  W.  W.  Walker,*  of 

*  Dr.  Walker’s  ancestors  emigrated  with  the  Scotch-Irish  colony  that  settled  on 
the  Potomac  somewhere  about  1650.  His  great-grandfather  was  a  captain  in  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  Continental  Dine  during  the  Revolution,  and  the  family  has  furnished  soldiers 
to  every  war  the  United  States  lias  had.  Dr.  Walker,  himself  in  the  Civil  War,  was 
captain  of  Company  D,  6th  Louisiana  Infantry,  in  Taylor’s  (afterwards  Hayes’)  Br  g- 
ade,  Ewell’s  Division,  Jackson’s  Corps,  and  he  was  desperately  wounded  in  the  rail¬ 
road  cut  at  tlie  second  battle  of  Manassas.  His  son,  Lieutenant  Kenzie  Walker,  9th 
Cavalry,  U.  S.  Army,  married  Miss  Whitman,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  a  descendant  of 
the  illustrious  Adams  family,  of  that  State. 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISKNBERRY. 


!S7 


Schulenburg,  is  prominent  in  medicine  and  surgery.  Among  his 
descendants  are  Travis  Henderson,  who  represented  his  district 
in  the  Texas  Legislature;  Richard  Henderson,  a  Lieutenant-Corn 
niander  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  Lieutenant  Kenzie  Walker, 
of  the  Ninth  United  Slates  Cavalry.  Lieutenant-Commander 
Arnold,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  is  related  by  marriage.” 

The  son,  William  I).  Quesenbury,  moved  to  Franklin  county, 
Arkansas,  in  1S37,  and  was  always  a  prominent  man  there.  He 
was  a  Captain  of  Arkansas  Volunteers  in  the  War  with  Mexico 
and  in  the  Civil  War  he  was  Quartermaster  General  of  General 
Albert  Pike's  Trans-Mississippi  Confederate  Army. 

Mrs.  Bessie  Quesenbury,  of  Van  Buren,  Ark.,  writes  under  date 
of  March  9,  1897:  “The  earliest  authentic  date  that  we  possess  is 
(he  birth  of  our  grandfather,  William  Minor  Quesenbury,  in  Wake 
county,  North  Carolina,  in  the  year  1777.  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  can 
find  no  mention  of  his  father’s  or  mother’s  name.  He  had  several 
brothers — John  Quesenbury,  Anderson  Quesenbury,  Humphrey 
Quesenbury,  and  perhaps  others.  William  Minor  Quesenbury 
moved  from  North  Carolina  to  Winchester,  Tenn.,  about  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  this  century.  There  he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business, 
I  think,  perhaps,  with  General  Andrew  Jackson  for  a  partner;  at 
least  there  is  a  tradition  in  the  family  to  that  effect,  and  I  know 
they  were  great  friends  from  letters  we  still  have,  written  to  him 
by  General  Jackson  after  his  election  to  Congress.  William  Minor 
Quesenbury  and  his  brother,  Anderson  Quesenbury,  removed  from 
Tennessee  to  Arkansas  about  the  year  1830.  William  M.  has  only 
two  male  descendants  living — grandsons — Albert  Quesenbury,  of 
Mulberry,  Ark.,  and  Argyle  Quesenbury,  of  Sallisaw,  Indian  Terri¬ 
tory.  Anderson  Quesenbury's  only  male  descendants,  two  grand¬ 
sons,  both  live  in  Texas.  I  have  heard  my  father-in-law  in  his  life¬ 
time  say  that  the  family  came  originally  from  England  and  settled 
in  Virginia,  and  that  the  name  was  originally  Queensbury.  If  this 
is  true,  you  see  our  branch  of  the  family  have  adhered  more  closely 
to  the  original  spelling  than  yours.  While  William  Minor  Quesen¬ 
bury  left  few  sons,  he  left  several  daughters,  and  they  have  quite  a 
number  of  children  here.  The  Avife  of  Senator  James  II.  Berry 
is  one  of  his  granddaughters.  We  had  one  cousin,  an  erratic  son 


38 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISEN  BERRY. 


of  Ibe  muses,  who  could  hardly  be  overlooked  iu  a  family  history. 
He  was  a  grandson  of  Anderson  Quesenbury,  and  was  a  genius 
beyond  a  doubt.  He  played  beautifully  on  the  violin  without  ever 
having  taken  a  lesson;  with  no  instruction  in  painting  he  painted 
portraits  that  were  tine  likenesses;  and  he  wrote  beautiful  poetry. 
One  of  his  poems,  'Arkansas,’  was  quite  equal  to  Goldsmith's 
‘Deserted  Village.'  A  prince  of  good  fellows,  he  numbered  among 
his  friends  man}7  of  the  celebrities  of  his  time,  John  Howard  Payne, 
George  D.  Prentice,  and  Albert  Pike  being  of  the  number.  His 
name  was  William  Quesenbury,  but  he  was  known  all  over  Texas, 
Arkansas,  and  Missouri  as  ‘Bill  Cush.’  I  am  sorry  you  did  not 
writes  to  us  in  his  lifetime  (he  has  been  dead  only  live  years),  as 
he  had  kept  track  of  all  the  different  branches  of  the  family,  and 
knew  where  they  were.  My  husband  was  Sanford  Quesenbury,  son 
of  Richard  Quesenbury,  and  grandson  of  William  Minor  Quesen¬ 
bury.  He  was  a  merchant  at  Mulberry,  Ark.,  but  died  quite  young 
— under  30  years  of  age.  We  had  one  child,  a  little  girl.” 

In  a  subsequent  letter  the  same  lady  writes:  “All  the  children 
of  William  Minor  Quesenbury  are  dead.  The  last  was  Mrs.  Frances 
Quail,  who  died  about  two  years  ago.  She  was  the  mother  of  the 
wife  of  Hon.  James  H.  Berry,  who  was  at  one  time  Governor  of  Ar¬ 
kansas,  and  is  now  one  of  the  Senators  from  that  State  in  the  Con¬ 
gress  of  the  United  States.  The  only  children  of  William  Minor 
Quesenbury  who  left  descendants  are: 

“1.  Mrs.  Sallie  Henderson,  of  whom  you  have  an  account. 

“2.  Elizabeth,  who  married  a  Mr.  Shorers,  and  was  the  mother 
of  Mrs.  Judge  W.  W.  Wainwriglit,  of  Ozark,  Ark.;  Mrs.  Lotspeach, 
of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and  Mrs.  Shrewsberry,  who  also  lives  some¬ 
where  in  California. 

“3.  Richard  Quesenbury,  father  of  Albert  Quesenbury,  of  Mul¬ 
berry,  Ark.,  and  of  my  husband,  Sanford  Quesenbury,  who  died  be¬ 
fore  his  father  did. 

“4.  Thomas  Quesenbury,  father  of  Argyle  Quesenbury,  of  Sal- 
lisaw,  Indian  Territory. 

“5.  Frances  Quesenbury,  who  married  a  Mr.  Quail,  and  left 
Mrs.  Senator  Berry,  Mrs.  Jennie  Blackburn,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Carter, 
Walker  Quail  and  William  Quail,  all  of  Ozark,  and  Mrs.  O.  M.  Bour- 
land,  of  Van  Buren. 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


39 


“William  Quesenbury’s  (“Bill  Cush”)  wife  and  daughters  live 
al  Neoslia,  Mo.,  and  his  sons  Stanley  Quesenbury  and  George  Ques- 
enbury  live  either  at  McKinney  or  Navasota,  Texas,  I  am  not  sure 
which.  They  are  the  grandsons  of  Anderson  Quesenbury. 

“Humphrey  Quesenbury,  I  think,  died  very  young,  and  left  no 
children.  James  Quesenbury,  who  left  descendants  in  Tennessee, 
was  probably  the  brother  of  William  Minor  Quesenbury. 

“We  pronounce  our  name  ‘Oushenberry.’  ” 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


While  the  Kentucky  Quisenberrys,  or  at  least  most  of  them, 
are  descended  from  Humphrey  (son  of  John,  the  pioneer),  many 
of  this  Humphrey  Quisenberry’s  descendants  still  reside  in  Vir¬ 
ginia  and  in  other  States  than  Kentucky. 

My  own  line,  from  the  foundation  of  the  family  in  Virginia, 
runs: 


1. 

2_ 

3. 

4. 
.5. 

G. 

7. 

8. 
9. 


John  Quisenberry. 

Humphrey  Quisenberry. 

Thomas  Quisenberry. 

Aaron  Quisenberry. 

James  Quisenberry. 

Colby  Burris  Quisenberry. 

Janies  Francis  Quisenberry. 

Anderson  Chenault  Quisenberry. 

My  own  children:  Adelaide  Corinna,  James  Francis,  Colby 
Broomhall,  and  Florence  Emily  Quisenberry. 

Of  these  nine  generations,  eight  were  certainly  born  on  Amer¬ 
ican  soil;  but  in  this  line  there  have  in  some  instances  been  more 
than  nine  generations,  many  members  of  llie  generation  to  which  I 
belong  having  grandchildren  and  some  of  them,  perhaps,  even 
great-grandchildren. 

Humphrey  1  Quisenberry,  as  we  have  seen,  as  early  as  1695 
bought  a  plantation  in  that  portion  of  old  Rappahannock  county, 
Virginia,  which  is  now  comprised  in  King  George  county,  and  sub 
sequently  he  bought  other  lands  in  that  vicinity.  His  estate  lay  in 
llie  parish  of  Sittenbourne,  King  George  county.  The  date  of  his 
birth  is  not  known,  but  assuming  that  he  must  have  been  at  least 
twenty-one  years  old  when  he  first  bought  land  in  1695,  as  shown 
by  the  records,  he  was,  of  course,  born  not  later  than  1674,  and 
the  probability  is  that  he  was  born  much  earlier.  Who  his  wife 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBEKUY. 


4\ 


was  is  not  known,  nor  is  it  definitely  known  how  many  children 
he  had,  though  he  certainly  had  two  sons — Humphrey2  and 
Thomas.  It  is  likely  that  he  had  several  other  children — sons  or 
daughters,  or  both.  Neither  is  the  date  of  his  death  known  defi¬ 
nitely,  though  it  w'as  somewhere  between  1711)  and  1728,  for  the 
records  of  King  George  county  show  (Appendix  III,  2)  that  in 
the  latter  year  Thomas  Quisenberry  sold  some  land  bought  by  his 
father,  Humphrey  Quisenberry,  in  171!),  and  devised  to  the  said 
Thomas,  by  the  last  will  and  testament  of  the  said  Humphrey. 
Unfortunately  this  will  cannot  now  be  consulted,  as  the  book  con 
tabling  it,  together  with  a  great  many  other  records  of  the  King 
George  County  Court,  wrere  destroyed  or  carried  away  by  Federal 
soldiers  during  the  Civil  War.  The  clerk  of  the  court  states 
that  some  twenty -five  years  ago  he  received  a  letter  from  a  man 
somewhere  in  New  York,  who  offered  to  sell  to  the  county  of  King 
George  its  first  will-book  for  an  exorbitant  price,  and  the  County 
Court  declined  to  pay  any  such  price  for  its  own  property,  and  the 
matter  ended.  The  letter  was  lost,  however,  and  now  that  the 
county  is  willing  to  buy  that  will-book  no  one  knows  how  to  go 
about  finding  it.  It  is  the  book  that  contains  the  will  of 
Humphrey  1  Quisenberry. 

Of  the  two  known  children  of  Humphrey 1  Quisenberry — 
Humphrey2  and  Thomas — the  former  returned  to  Westmoreland 
county  and  became  quite  a  wealthy  man.  He  was  twice  married. 
The  name  of  his  first  wife  is  unknown,  and  it  is  believed  that  his 
second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Carter,  daughter  of  Robert  Carter,  of 
“Nomini  Hall,”  who  was  the  son  of  Robert  Carter,  and  grandson 
of  “King”  Carter,  of  “Corotoman.”  ((Appendix  VIII.  18)  The  will 
(f  Humphrey  2  Quisenberry  (Appendix  II,  26)  was  witnessed  by 
.John  Carter  and  Samuel  Carter.  It  seems  by  the  will  that  his 
children  by  his  first  wife  were  all  girls,  at  least  he  leaves  no  be¬ 
quests  to  any  sons  by  that  marriage,  and  the  children  by  the 
second  wife  consisted  of  two  girls  and  a  boy.  His  age  is  not  known, 
the  date  of  his  birth  being  missing,  but  his  death  must  have  been 
about  1776,  as  his  will,  dated  January  30,  1773,  was  probated  in 
1776.  By  this  will  he  left  the  bulk  of  his  property  to  the  second  set 
of  children,  leaving  only  some  negroes  to  the  older  set  (who  had 


42 


TIIE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


probably  been  previously  provided  for),  except  “five  shillings 
starling”  to  his  grandson,  John  Pope,  and  “nine  shillings  starling” 
to  his  daughter,  Jane  Pope.  This  lady  was  the  wife  of  Law¬ 
rence  Pope,  of  the  parish  of  Lunenburg  in  the  county  of  Rich¬ 
mond.  It  also  appears  from  the  will  that  Humphrey  Quisen- 
berry's  daughter  Anne  had  married  a  Piper;  his  daughter  Bethle¬ 
hem  a  Bashaw,  and  his  daughter  Mary  married  John  Marshall. 
This  John  Marshall  was  the  brother  of  Colonel  Thomas  Marshall 
(so  prominent  and  famous  in  the  early  history  of  Kentucky)  and 
the  uncle  of  the  great  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  who  was  named  in  his  honor.  John  Marshall  and 
Mary  Quisenberry,  his  wife,  were  the  parents  of  Humphrey 
Marshall,  who  was  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  Kentucky,  1795-1801, 
and  author  of  the  famous  “Marshall’s  History  of  Kentucky;”  and 
he  was  altogether  the  most  unique  and  interesting  character  in 
the  early  history  of  Kentucky  and  in  the  eaidy  history  of  the 
United  States  as  well.  Humphrey  Marshall  married  his  first 
cousin,  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of  Colonel  Thomas  Marshall,  and 
sister  of  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall.  His  two  sons,  John  Jay 
Marshall  and  Thomas  A.  Marshall,  were  both  prominent  and  dis¬ 
tinguished  lawyers,  judges  and  statesmen.  Each  of  them  served  in 
Congress.  His  grandson,  Humphrey  Marshall  (father  of  Kellie 
Marshall  McAfee,  the  novelist),  served  several  terms  in  Congress, 
was  a  Colonel  in  the  Mexican  War,  United  States  Minister  Pleni¬ 
potentiary  to  China,  a  Brigadier  General  in  the  Confederate  Army, 
and,  after  his  resignation  as  such,  a  member  of  the  Confederate 
Congress.  General  Humphrey  Marshall’s  son,  also  named  Hum¬ 
phrey,  is  now  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Louisville. 

Through  Thomas  Quisenberry  (son  of  Humphrey1)  are  de¬ 
scended  most  of  the  Quisenberrys  of  Kentucky.  On  account  of 
the  destruction  during  the  war  of  the  records  of  King  George  and 
Caroline  counties,  Virginia,  but  little  information  can  be  gathered 
concerning  him.  It  is  known  that  he  had  one  son — Aaron — and 
he  doubtless  had  others,  for  he  belonged  to  a  race  who  gen¬ 
erally  had  “the  quiver  full.”  Whether  Thomas  Quisenberry  died 
in  King  George  county  or  moved  to  Caroline  county  before  his 
death  can  not  now  be  ascertained.  His  son  Aaron,  the  date  of 
whose  birth  is  unknown,  first  appears  in  174G  in  what  is  left  of  the 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


43 


records  of  Caroline  county,  and  was  then  probably  just  of  age, 
or  thereabouts.  That  he  removed  from  Caroline  county  is  shown 
by  the  records  of  Spottsylvania  county,  which  give  evidence  that 
on  November  <i,  1750,  “Aaron  Quisenberry,  of  Caroline  county,” 
purchased  a  plantation  in  St.  George’s  parish,  Spottsylvania 
county,  from  one  John  Collins.  The  records  also  show  that  he 
sold  this  land  on  August  28,  1769,  and  the  next  information  we  get 
of  him  is  in  the  records  of  Orange  county,  Virginia,  where  we  find 
that  on  September  28,  1769,  “Aaron  Quisenberry,  of  Spottsylvania 
county,”  bought  of  Richard  Thomas  six  hundred  and  fourteen 
acres  of  land  in  St.  Thomas’  parish,  Orange  county.  This  land, 
as  described  in  the  deed,  was  situated  “on  the  north  side  of  the 
north  fork  of  the  North  Anng  River,”  adjoining  the  Spottsylvania 
line,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  included  the  property 
now  known  as  the  Orange  Springs. 

The  date  of  Aaron  Quisenberry’s  marriage,  as  well  as  tin* 
maiden  name  of  his  wife,  are  unknown.  His  wife’s  given  name  was 
Joyce,  as  the  records  show,  and  it  was  for  some  time  believed  sin* 
was  Joyce  Craig,  the  daughter  of  Tolliver  Craig,  who  lived  at  that 
time  in  Spottsylvania  county,  but  investigation  has  shown  that 
this  lady  married  a  Mr.  Falkner.  It  may  be  that  she  was  Joyce 
Dudley,  the  daughter  of  Robert  Dudley  and  Joyce  Gayle,  his  wife, 
but  of  this  there  is  also  doubt.  Robert  Dudley  lived  in  Spottsyl¬ 
vania,  but  had  a  plantation  in  Orange,  adjoining  that  of  Aaron 
Quisenberry,  and  they  were  all  Baptists  together. 

The  children  of  Aaron  Quisenberry  and  Joyce,  his  wife,  were 
(1)  Aaron,  jr.,  (2)  Moses,  (3)  William,  (4)  John,  (5)  George,  (6)  James, 
and  the  following  daughters:  Winifred,  “Miss,"  Mary,  who  married 
William  Cooper,  and  Elizabeth,  who  married  Rice  Pendleton. 
Captain  David  J.  Pendleton,  of  Winchester,  Kentucky,  is  a  great 
grandson  of  this  latter  marriage.  (See  Appendix  VII,  1,  2,  3.) 

It  is  not  intended,  nor,  indeed,  is  it  possible,  in  a  work  of 
limited  scope  like  this,  to  give  in  detail  the  descendants  of  these 
various  children  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  desirable  as  that  would  be. 
The  most  that  has  been  intended  is  to  bring  down  (he  line  of  my 
own  descent  as  succinctly  as  possible,  and  to  give  such  general 
items  as  may  enable  members  of  other  branches  of  the  family  to 
gain  a  starting  point  for  doing  the  same  thing  in  regard  to  their 
own  lines,  if  they  should  wish  to  do  so. 


44 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QlIISENBERRY. 


Aaron  Quisenberry,  as  it  appears  from  the  records  of  Orange 
county,  died  in  1705,  as  the  administration  of  his  estate  began  on 
March  22  of  that  year,  and  his  wife  survived  him.  After  having 
given  to  his  children  between  seven  hundred  and  eight  hundred 
acres  of  land  and  numerous  slaves,  he  died  still  possessed  of  about 
four  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  personal  property,  which  was  a 
good  deal  more  than  the  average,  in  his  day,  even  for  rich  men. 

His  sens  will  now  be  mentioned,  seriatim,  as  they  are  numbered 
in  a  preceding  paragraph.  It  is  not  known,  however,  that  they 
ranked  in  point  of  age  in  the  sequence  in  which  they  are  given. 
Aaron  Qnisenberry  left  no  will;  if  he  had,  his  children  would  have 
been  mentioned  in  it  in  the  order  of  their  birth,  as  is  almost  uni¬ 
versally  the  case. 

1.  AARON  QUISENBERRY,  JR,— 

Lived  and  died  in  Orange  county,  his  home  being  near  North 
Pamunkey  church.  Pie  was  twice  married.  The  name  of  his  first 
wife  is  not  known,  but  his  second  wife  was  Sally  Ellis.  From  his 
will  it  would  appear  that  he  died  between  February  21st  and 
duly  22d,  1805,  and  that  he  left  children  as  follows: 

Stephen  Qnisenberry,  of  whom  nothing  further  is  known. 

Thomas  Qnisenberry,  of  whom  nothing  further  is  known. 

Aaron  Shelton  Quisenberry,  who  married  Henrietta  Reynolds, 
and  about  1810  settled  in  Jefferson  county,  Kentucky.  He  had 
three  children — Robert,  William,  and  Evaline.  The  two  sons  mar¬ 
ried,  and  each  of  them  has  descendants  in  Jefferson  county,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  and  in  Indiana.  The  daughter,  Evaline,  married  a  Mr. 
Johnson,  of  Jefferson  county,  and  their  son,  Hon.  E.  Polk  Johnson, 
has  represented  that  county  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature  several 
times,  and  was  for  a  long  time  the  managing  editor  of  the  Louis 
vi lie  Courier-Journal.  He  has  also  filled  other  positions  of  trust 
and  edited  numerous  newspapers. 

David  Quisenberry,  of  whom  nothing  more  is  known. 

Winnifred  Quisenberry,  who  married  a  Mr.  Morris. 

Polly  Quisenberry,  who  married  a  Mr.  Bell. 

Benjamin  Quisenberry,  who  went  to  Kentucky. 

Joyce  Quisenberry,  who  married  William  Reynolds. 

Sallie  Quisenberry,  married  John  Henderson. 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


45 


Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  married  Thomas  Nelson,  and  went  to 
Kentucky. 

Hezekiah  Ellis  Quisenberry,  who  married  Miss  Sally  Burris. 

Susie  Ellis  Quisenberry. 

Nancy  Quisenberry,  who  married  Curtis  Brockman. 

Lucy  Quisenberry,  who  married  Asa  Brockman. 

2.  MOSES  QUISENBERRY— 

It  seems  that  he  moved  to  the  southwestern  part  of  Kentucky, 
and  in  the  land  office  of  that  State  are  records  of  early  purchases 
of  land  by  Moses  Quisenberry,  in  Breckinridge  and  Green  counties. 
He  left  numerous  descendants,  some  of  whom  are  now  living  in 
Meade  and  Christian  counties.  John  H.  Quisenberry,  who  was  a 
First  Lieutenant  in  the  12th  Kentucky  Cavalry  (Union),  was  un¬ 
doubtedly  his  grandson  or  greatgrandson,  and  so,  also,  doubtless, 
was  Lieutenant  H.  S.  Quisenberry,  who  served  first  in  the  22d 
Regiment  of  Louisiana  Infantry,  from  which  he  was  transferred 
October  19,  1SG4,  to  the  Cumberland  (Ky.)  Confederate  Artillery. 
There  is  scarcely  a  doubt  but  the  Quisenberrys  of  Logan  county, 
Illinois,  are  descended  from  Moses  Quisenberry.  The  founder  of  the 
Illinois  Quisenberrys  was  Edward  Sanford  Quisenberry,  who  was 
born  in  Virginia  in  1787,  moved  to  Christian  county,  Kentucky, 
about  1815,  and  from  thence  went  to  Illinois  in  1835,  where  he 
has  left  a  numerous  and  wealthy  progeny.  He  had  brothers  named 
John,  George,  and  James,  some  or  all  of  whom  now  have  de¬ 
scendants  living  in  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  and  some  of  the 
neighboring  counties.  Other  interesting  information  concerning 
the  Illinois  Quisenberrys  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


3.  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY— 

Was  born  in  Orange  county  but  afterwards  moved  to  Spott 
sylvania,  where  his  old  homestead,  ‘‘Rose  Valley,”  is  still  iu  the 
possession  of  his  descendants.  He  was  twice  married,  and  his 
first  wife,  Agnace  Morton,*  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters  and 


*  The  Mortons  were  always  a  prominent  aiul  influential  family  in  Virginia,  and 
many  of  them  filled  responsible  positions  in  the  State.  Agnace  Morton  Quisenberry 
had  three  brothers — William,  George,  and  Jeremiah  Morton.  The  latter  had  four  sons 
—William  Jackson,  George  and  Jeremiah.  William  Morton,  t lie  eldest,  represented 
the  county  of  Orange  several  times  in  the  State  Legislature.  Ja  ksou  Morton  in  early 
manhood  went  to  Florida  and  became  Governor  of  the  State,  and  also  represented  it 
in  tlie  United  States  Senate.  George  Morton  was  an  eminent  physic'an.  ranking  with 
the  first  in  Virginia;  and  Jeremiah  Morton  was  a  lawyer  of  very  great  distinction 

Elizabeth  Hawkins  (the  mother  of  Agnace  Morton  Quisenberry!  was  born  in  Eng¬ 
land,  and  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  John  Hawkins  and  Lord  John  Hawkins. 


46 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


two  sons,  was  the  daughter  of  Elijah  Morton  and  Elizabeth 
Hawl  dns,  his  wife,  of  Spot tsyl vania  county,  and  his  second  wife 
was  a  widow  Swann,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  He  died  in  1807.  His  first  set  of  children  were: 

Aaron  Quisenberry,  who  died  young  and  without  children. 

Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  married  Ralph  Dickinson,  and  their 
son,  Rev.  A.  E.  Dickinson,  was  for  many  years  editor  of  the  Re¬ 
ligious  Herald,  published  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  the  leading  Bap¬ 
tist  periodical  of  America. 

Jane  Quisenberry,  a  daughter,  of  whom  nothing  is  now  known. 

Elijah  Quisenberry  was  born  in  Spottsylvania  county  in  1781 ; 
married  Lucy  Nelson,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas  Nelson,  jr., 
who,  according  to  Bishop  Meade,  was  for  a  long  time  Secretary  of 
the  Council.  His  brother,  William  Nelson,  was  President  of  the 
<  'ouncil  and  father  of  the  “signer”  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde¬ 
pendence.  These  two  were  the  only  sons  of  Thomas  Nelson,  sr.,* 
the  progenitor  of  the  Nelson  family  in  Virginia.  Elijah  Quisen¬ 
berry  and  Lucy  Nelson,  his  wife,  had  five  sons — William,  Albert, 
James,  Edwin  and  John — and  several  daughters.  (1)  William 
Quisenberry  married  a  Miss  Hyter,  and  two  of  his  sons  are  prom¬ 
inent  Baptist  ministers.  One  of  them,  Rev.  Hyter  Quisenberry, 
lives  in  Hamilton,  Ohio,  and  the  other,  Rev.  Wm.  Quisenberry,  lives 
in  Nashville,  Tenn.  (2)  Albert  Quisenberry  married  in  Spott¬ 
sylvania,  and  left  children.  (3)  James  Quisenberry  married  Frances 


*  Lucy  Nelson  Quisenberry  was  (he  daughter  of  Joseph  Nelson,  who  was  the  son 
of  James  Nelson,  who  was  the  son  of  John  Nelson,  who  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Nel¬ 
son,  jr.,  who  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Nelson,  sr.,  the  founder  of  the  Nelson  family  in 
Virginia. 

Bishop  Meade’s  “Old  Families  and  Churches  of  Virginia”  says:  “Thomas  Nelson, 
sr.,  came  to  Virginia  in  1705.  He  founded  Yorktown,  and  married  a  Miss  Reid,  of 
the  neighboring  county,  and  had  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  sons  settled  in 
York,  and  the  daughter  married  Colonel  Berkeley,  of  Middlesex.  The  eldest  son, 
Thomas,  was  called  Secretary  Nelson,  because  he  was  for  a  long  time  Secretary  of 
the  Council.  lie  had  three  sons  in  the  American  Revolution,  whose  descendants  are 
all  over  Virginia.  The  second  son  of  old  Thomas  Nelson  (the  founder)  has  always 
been  called  President  Nelson,  because  so  often  President  of  the  Council,  and  at  one 
lime  President  of  the  Colony.  Pie  married  a  Miss  Burrell,  granddaughter  of  Robert 
Carter,  called  King  Carter.  His  eldest  son  was  Governor  Thomas  Nelson,  ‘the 
signer.’  ” 

Inscription  on  the  tomb  of  Thomas  Nelson  (the  founder),  at  Yorktown,  Va. 
(Translated  from  the  Latin): 

“  Here  lies,  in  certain  hope  of  being  raised  up  in  Christ,  Thomas  Nelson, 
G(  nt’eman,  son  of  Hugh  and  Sarah  Nelson,  of  Penrith,  in  the  county  of  Cumberland. 
Born  February  20,  1077.  Completed  a  well  spent  life  on  the  7th  of  October,  1745, 
in  his  08th  year.” 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


47 


Spindle,  of  Spottsyl  vania,  a  granddaughter  of  Major  Benjamin 
Alsop,  of  the  Revolutionary  army.  Their  children  are:  Virginia 
Quisenberry,  now  living  in  Danville,  Ky. ;  Emma  Quisenberry,  who 
married  James  Taylor,  of  Lankford,  Kent  county,  Maryland;  Ellen 
Quisenberry,  who  married  Dr.  George  P.  Holman,  jr.,  of  Virginia; 
Harriet,  who  married  Dr.  Winfield  Dulaney,  of  Maryland;  and 
James  Quisenberry,  who  lives  in  Tennessee.  (4,  5)  Edwin  and  John 
Quisenberry  went  to  Kentucky  about  1845,  settling  first  in  Clark 
county,  where  they  had  numerous  relatives.  John  read  medicine 
in  Winchester,  and  afterwards  graduated  from  Transylvania  Uni 
versify  and  settled  at  Paris,  Ky.,  where  he  built  up  a  fine  practice, 
and  where,  in  184!),  he  died  a  heroic  death  in  ministering  to  the 
wants  of  victims  of  the  cholera,  of  which  disease  he  himself  died. 
He  was  never  married.  Edwin  Quisenberry  read  law  in  Win¬ 
chester,  Kv.;  married  Miss  Anna  Price,  of  Jessamine  county,  and 
settled  in  Carlisle,  Ky.,  where  he  practiced  law  until  18(50,  when 
he  removed  to  Danville,  Ky.,  where  he  died  some  years  later,  leav¬ 
ing  three  children — Lucy,  who  died  unmarried;  John  A.  Quisen- 
berry,  cashier  of  the  leading  bank  of  Danville,  who  married  Pattie 
Beatty,  daughter  of  Ormond  Beatty,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President 
of  Centre  College;  and  Robert  T.  Quisenberry,  who  graduated 
from  Virginia  University  in  1880,  and  is  now  practicing  law  in 
Danville.  He  is  unmarried.  John  A.  Quisenberry  has  one  child — 
a  son — Thomas  Edwin  Quisenberry,  who  was  born  May  24,  1891. 

Lucy,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Elijah  Quisenberry,  married  Mr.  - 

Gardener,  of  Spottsylvania,  and  their  son,  Dr.  James  E.  Gardener, 
is  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy,  at  present  assigned  to  duty 
on  the  good  ship  Amphitrite.  Dr.  Gardener  married  in  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  which  city  is  now  his  home,  and  his  wife  is  a  direct  descen¬ 
dant  of  William  Penn,  lie  has  two  children. 

WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY’S  children  by  his  second  wife,  the 
widow  Swann,  were: 

William  Quisenberry,  a  physician,  who  lived  in  King  George 
county,  Virginia,  where  he  married  a  widow  Ashton,  but  had  no 
ehildren ; 

James  Quisenberry,  who  went  to  Missouri; 

Charles  Quisenberry,  who  lived  in  Lynchburg,  Va.;  and  three 
daughters,  Anna,  Lucy  and  Maria. 


48 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


4.  JOHN  QUISENBERRY — 

Moved  to  Clark  county,  Kentucky,  in  1788,  and  left  there  about 
1808,  going  to  Warren  county,  in  the  same  State,  and  it  has  not 
been  possible  to  learn  much  about  him.  He  owned  considerable 
land  in  Clark  county,  and  the  deeds  show  that  his  wife’s  given  name 
was  Rachel.  He  lived  on  a  farm  adjoining  that  of  his  brother, 
Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  and  he  had  several  children,  sons  and 
daughters,  but  it  has  not  been  possible  to  get  information  con- 
cerning  any  but  one  of  them.  This  one  is  his  son  Nicholas  Quisen¬ 
berry,  who  married  Lucy,  the  daughter  of  James  Stevens,  and  built 
and  lived  at  the  place  on  the  Boonesboro’  turnpike,  once  known 
as  the  “Old  Natty  Ragland  place;”  later  as  the  “Catherine  Turner 
place.”  This  place  Nicholas  Quisenberry  sold  in  1808  to  Nathaniel 
Ragland,  and  then  he  went  to  Warren  county  with  his  father, 
John  Quisenberry,  and  settled.  One  of  Nicholas  Quisenberry’s 
sons,  Maury  W.  Quisenberry,  was  the  fatlie?  of  William  Quisen¬ 
berry,  now  living  at  Bristow  Station,  Warren  county,  Kentucky, 
from  whom  most  of  this  meager  information  was  obtained.  (See 
Appendix  VIII,  6.) 

5.  GEORGE  QUISENBERRY— 

Lived  and  died  a!  his  estate  of  “Cherry  Grove,”  near  Antioch 
Church,  in  Orange  county,  Virginia.  He  was  thrice  married:  first, 
about  1782,  to  Jane  Daniel,  and  their  children  were: 

(1)  Jane  Quisenberry,  born  June  21,  1784,  married  William 
Reynolds,  of  Orange. 

(2)  George  Quisenberry,  born  September  28,  1786;  died  young. 

(3)  Sidna  Quisenberry,  born  September  8,  1788,  married  John 
Newman. 

(4>  Daniel  Quisenberry;  see  below. 

(o!  Vivian  Quisenberry,  born  October  12,  1793;  died  Septem¬ 
ber  30,  1875;  married  Sarah  Wright,  who  died  April  30,  1863. 

(6)  Millie  Quisenberry,  born  September  18,  1796,  who  married 
John  Newman  after  the  death  of  her  sister  Sidna. 

(7)  Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  born  August  29,  1798,  married 
John  Herndon,  of  Orange  county. 

GEORGE  QUISENBERRY’S  second  wife  was  Peggy  Reynolds, 
who  gave  him  thirteen  children,  as  follows: 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


49 


(8)  Eliza  Quisenberry,  born  September  8,  1803,  married  Benja¬ 
min  Wright. 

(9)  Joseph  Quisenberry,  born  November  18,  1804;  died  young. 

(10)  William  Quisenberry,  born  December  30,  1805,  married 
Kitty  Terrill,  and  went  to  Missouri. 

(11)  Joyce  Quisenberry,  born  May  6, 1807 ;  died  young. 

(12)  David  Quisenberry,  born  October  4,  1808;  killed  by  being 
thi  own  from  a  horse. 

(13)  Albert  Quisenberry,  born  February  21,  1810,  married 
Sarah  Reynolds,  and  went  to  Kentucky. 

(14)  Lucy  Quisenberry,  born  May  10,  1812,  married  Jack 
Wright,  and  went  to  Kentucky. 

(15)  James  Quisenberry,  born  February  2,  1814,  married,  first, 
Elizabeth  Rhoades,  then  Frances  Sanders,  and  lived  in  Spottsyl- 
vania. 

(16)  Mary  Ann  Quisenberry,  born  October  9,  1815,  married 
John  Falconer,  and  went  to  Missouri  or  Kentucky. 

(17)  Sarah  Quisenberry,  born  April  27.  1817,  married  George 
Tinder,  of  Orange. 

(18)  George  Quisenberry,  born  November  10,  1818,  and  died 
young. 

(19)  John  Quisenberry,  born  December  29,  1820,  married 
Mary  Ellen  Rose,  and  went  to  Texas. 

(20)  Nancy  Quisenberry,  born  February  17,  1823,  married 
Richard  Tinder. 

By  his  third  wife  George  Quisenberry  had  two  children,  who 
died  in  infancy  before  they  were  named;  and  by  his  three  wives  he 
hud  twenty-two  children  in  all.  George  Quisenberry,  who  was 
killed  in  Pickett’s  charge  at  Gettysburg,  was  his  grandson. 

Vivian  Quisenberry  (5),  son  of  George  Quisenberry  and  Jane 
Daniel,  married  Sarah  Wright,  and  had  the  following  children: 
Nancy,  who  married  William  Reynolds;  Sarah,  who  married  James 
Coleman;  Benjamin,  who  married  Elizabeth  Herndon;  George, 
killed  at  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  who  married  Millona  Miller,  and 
their  son  is  now  a  physician  at  Cliff  To]),  West  Virginia;  Vivian,  a 
physician,  who  married  Billie  Robinson;  Jane,  who  married  Fer¬ 
dinand  Richards,  of  Georgia;  and  Daniel  (who  has  furnished  this 


50 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


information),  who  lives  in  Orange  county,  and  lias  had  fifteen  chil¬ 
dren  by  his  wife,  Sallie  Reynolds,  who  is  a  great-grand-daughter  of 
Aaron  Quisenberry,  who  married  Sallie  Ellis. 

Daniel  Quisenberry  (4),  son  of  George  Quisenberry  and  Jane 
Daniel,  was  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  October  22,  1790,  but 
moved  to  Spottsylvania  county,  where  he  died  in  1833.  He  married 
Mary  Rhoades  (born  January  5,  1792),  of  Orange  county,  on  Decem¬ 
ber  23,  1812.  He  served  for  a  while  in  the  War  of  1812.  They  had 
seven  children;  and  in  October,  1837,  the  mother,  then  a  widow, 
removed  with  all  the  children  to  Saline  county,  Missouri,  where 
they  settled.  The  children  were: 

(1)  George  Quisenberry,  born  1813,  died  April  25,  1889.  Mar¬ 

ried  in  1839  to  Martha  Kinnear,  of  Rockbridge  county,  Virginia, 
who  died  in  1872.  Their  children  were:  (a)  William  IT.,  born  in 
1842;  served  through  the  Civil  War  on  the  Confederate  side,  and 
was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Jenkins’  Ferry,  Ark.;  died  1878.  (b) 

George,  born  1844.  (c)  Daniel,  born  1848,  died  1881.  (d)  John,  born 
1852,  married  in  1878  Roselma  Wright,  of  Chariton  county,  Mis¬ 
souri,  and  has  one  son — William  R.  (e)  Gusteen,  born  1856,  died 
1862. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  (Martha  Kinnear),  in  1872,  George 
Quisenberry  married  (1874)  Sarah  E.  Reynolds,  of  Missouri,  and  the 
children  of  this  marriage  were:  (f)  Thomas  E.,  born  1875;  married 
in  1893  Miss  Mabel  Doan,  of  Liberty,  Mo.,  and  is  now  editor  of  the 
Index  newspaper,  Slater,  Mo.  (g)  Bettie,  born  in  1878.  (h)  Mary  F., 
born  1880,  and  died  the  same  year. 

(2)  Richard  Harrison  Quisenberry,  born  in  1816,  and  still  liv¬ 
ing  in  1897;  married  in  1842  to  Constantin  Monroe,  who  died  in 
1852;  and  1853  he  was  married  to  Araminta  Cawthron,  of  Carroll 
county,  Missouri,  who  died  in  1874.  Children: 

By  first  wife:  (a)  Mary  E.,  born  1843,  died  1869.  (b)  Emily  E., 
born  1845,  married  in  1862  A.  R.  Cawthron,  of  Carroll  county,  and 
has  children,  Lela,  Liza,  Arthur  and  Nannie,  (c)  Arthur  D.,  born  in 
1847,  married  Susan  C.  Goodwin  in  1872,  and  had  four  children — 
Maggie,  Bessie,  Luther  and  Melvin;  served  nine  months  in  Price’s 
Confederate  army,  and  is  now  in  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  in  the  live 
stock  commission  business,  (d,  e)  Leander  and  Leonidas,  twins, 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  HUMPHREY  QUISENBERRY. 


5 1 

born  in  1849;  Leander  died  in  1851;  Leonidas  married  in  1880  Anna 
Kay,  of  Carroll  county,  and  had  one  child — Ray.  He  was  a  lawyer, 
and  served  two  terms  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  Carroll  county; 
died  in  1888. 

By  second  wife:  (f)  Annie  E.,  born  in  1854,  married  A.  J.  Kin 
naird  in  1882.  (g)  Thomas  R.,  born  1850.  (b)  Mattie,  born  1859. 

(i)  William,  born  1801,  died  1802.  (j)  Jennie,  born  1802,  married  T. 
J.  Fleetwood  1884;  died  1885.  (k)  George  L.,  born  1808.  (1)  Edward 
H.,  born  1870,  married  Sallie  Brandon  in  1895.  (m)  Fredonia,  born 
1873. 

(3)  Ann  R.  Quisenberry,  born  1818,  married  in  1838  to  Eden 
E.  Garrett;  died  in  1847,  leaving  three  children — Lycurgus,  Fre¬ 
donia  and  John,  all  of  whom  are  living. 

(4)  Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  born  in  1822,  married  William  Mc¬ 
Daniel,  of  Carroll  county,  Missouri,  and  died  in  1849. 

(5)  Daniel  Quisenberry,  born  April  18,  1820,  died  June  14, 

1887;  married  December  23,  1852,  to  Mary  A.  Gwinn.  Their  chil¬ 
dren  were:  (a)  John  W.  (lawyer),  born  October  20,  1853;  married 
May  Johnson  October  0,  1881;  died  October  30,  1880,  leaving  two 
children — Joseph  Warren  and  Inez.  (b)  Nannie,  born  October  19, 
1855;  married  Dr.  L.  S.  Mead  June  13,  1892.  (c)  Mollie,  born  August 
15,  1857;  married  D.  W.  Norvell  January  10, 1880,  and  has  four  chil¬ 
dren — Edna,  Howard  Q.,  Junius  and  Irene,  (d)  Sallie,  born  Novem¬ 
ber  28,  1859;  married  David  Freet  March  0,  1884,  and  has  twro  chil¬ 
dren — Raymond  and  Lilian,  (e)  Richard  1).,  hardware  merchant 
in  Slater,  Mo.,  born  March  9,  1804;  married  Lissa  Perry  on  April 
30,  1890,  and  has  no  children,  (f)  Susie,  born  July  25,  1800.  (g) 

Rosie,  born  December  28,  1870;  married  R.  L.  Haines  on  October 
8,  1891. 

(0)  Thomas  Quisenberry,  born  1829,  died  in  Memphis,  Tenn., 
in  1870,  leaving  no  children. 

(7)  Mary  S.  Quisenberry,  born  1831;  married  George  Norvell, 
of  Saline  county;  died  in  1870,  leaving  four  children — Ann  E.. 
Thomas  R.,  William  D.  and  Arthur,  of  whom  Thomas  R.  alone  is 
now  living. 


52 


THE  DESCENDANTS  OP  HUMPHREY  QUrSENPERRY. 


6.  REV.  JAMES  QUI8ENBERRY— 

Son  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  sr.,  and  Joyce,  his  wife,  was  born  in 
Spottsylvania  county,  Virginia,  June  13,  1759,  and  at  the  age  of 
ten  lie  went  with  his  father  to  settle  in  the  adjoining  county  of 
Orange.  On  December  1,  177(>,  then  seventeen  years  old,  he  mar¬ 
ried  Jane  Burris,  of  the  same  county,  and  in  1783,  at  the  close  of 
Ihe  Revolutionary  war,  they  went  to  Kentucky  and  settled.  Their 
history  will  be  continued  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  CHILDREN. 


Jane  Burris,  the  first  wife  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  was 
born  July  5,  1759,  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  and  died  November 
3,  1811,  after  having  borne  her  husband  seven  sons  and  six 
daughters.  Burris  is  another  form  of  the  names  Burrows,  Bur¬ 
roughs,  Burrace  and  Burys.  Thomas  Burris,  the  father  of  Jane 
Burris,  was  a  very  wealthy  man  for  his  times  as  his  will  shows 
(see  Appendix  VII,  5),  and  he  was  descended  from  a  family  who 
had  been  in  Virginia  from  the  earliest  times.  In  the  records  his 
name  is  variously  spelled  “Burrace,”  “Burras,”  and  “Burris,”  and  it 
is  the  latter  form  that  has  been  adopted  for  use  in  this  work. 
Thomas  Burris  served  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  Captain 
George  Mercer’s  Company  of  the  Virginia  Regiment,  commanded 
by  Colonel  George  Washington,  and  fought  at  the  battle  of  the 
Meadows  in  1754,  and  was  one  of  the  number  “who  received  the 
present  of  a  Fistole  from  the  Country  as  an  acknowledgement  of 
their  gallant  behaviour  upon  that  occasion”  (see  “Washington 
Papers,”  State  Department,  Washington  City),  and  he  was  one  of 
the  detachment  that  marched  to  Augusta  some  time  after  the  de¬ 
feat;  and  he  also  fought  at  the  disastrous  Braddock’s  Defeat,  in 
1755.  For  his  services  in  this  war  he  received  a  share  of  the  two 
hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  granted  under  Governor  Dinwid 
die’s  proclamation.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  born  warrior,  for 
he  fought  in  the  Revolution  also,  and  was  granted  lands  for  that 
service.  The  following  brief  certificate  of  his  service  in  the  Revolu¬ 
tion  was  furnished  by  the  Chief  of  the  Records  and  Pension  Office, 
Washington,  viz: 

“It  appears  from  the  records  of  this  office  that  Thomas  Burris 
enlisted  February  23,  1776,  as  a  private  in  Captain  William  Wash¬ 
ington’s  Company,  3d  Virginia  Regiment  of  Foot,  Revolutionary 


54 


REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AND  IHS  CHILDREN. 


War,  and  his  name  appears  on  the  muster  rolls  of  that  organization 
to  July,  1777.  He  is  reported  with  the  rank  of  Corporal  on  muster 
rolls,  as  follows:  Captain  John  Francis  Mercer’s  company  of  this 
regiment  to  and  including  May,  1778;  Captain  Robert  Powell’s 
company,  3d  and  7tli  Virginia  (consolidated)  regiment  from  May, 
1778,  1o  September,  1778;  Captain  Robert  Powell's  company,  3d 
Virginia  regiment,  for  October,  1778;  Captain  John  F.  Mercer's 
company,  3d  Virginia  regiment  to  April,  1779;  and  Captain  Valen¬ 
tine  Peyton’s  company,  3d  Virginia  regiment,  to  November,  1779.” 

Thomas  Burris  died  about  the  1st  of  March,  1789.  His  wife, 
Frances  Tandy,  was  the  daughter  of  Roger  Tandy,  whose  wife,  a 
.Miss  Colby,  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  Edward  Colby,  of 
London,  who  subscribed  £12  10s  to  the  stock  of  the  London  Com¬ 
pany  for  the  Colonization  of  Virginia,  and  who  himself  came  to  this 
country,  and  died  at  Jamestown  in  1620.  The  Burrises  and  Colbys 
are  of  English,  and  the  Tandys  of  Irish  descent,  and  they  were  all 
among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Virginia. 

One  of  Thomas  Burris’s  daughters,  Frances  Tandy  Burris, 
married  Captain  “Billy”  Bush,  who  served  with  George  Rogers 
( 'lark  in  the  conquest  of  the  northwest,  and  founded  the  famous 
Bush  Settlement  in  Clark  county.  Other  matters  of  interest  con¬ 
cerning  the  Burris  and  Tandy  families  may  be  found  in  Appendix 
VII. 

James  Quisenberry,  son  of  the  elder  Aaron  Quisenberry  and 
Joyce,  his  wife,  united  with  the  Baptist  church  in  Orange  county, 
Virginia,  when  quite  a  boy.  He  married  before  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  and  saw  some  service  in  the  Revolutionary  War  in  the 
militia  of  Orange  county.  In  1783,  before  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
removed  to  Kentucky.  He  was  then  an  ordained  Baptist  minister, 
though  only  twenty-four  years  of  age.  He  went  first  to  Madison 
county,  and  Mr.  French  Tipton,  author  of  a  history  of  that  county, 
as  yet  unpublished,  says  in  that  work,  on  record  authority,  that 
Rev.  James  Quisenberry  was  one  of  the  garrison  of  the  fort  at 
Boonesboro’  in  1783-’84.  In  1785  he  settled  in  what  is  now  Clark 
county  (it  was  then  a  part  of  Fayette  county),  where  he  purchased 
a  considerable  tract  of  land,  which  he  subsequently  added  to  from 
lime  to  time.  On  this  land  he  built  a  house  which  stood  until  1893 
— more  than  a  century — when  it  was  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire, 


REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AN1)  HIS  CHILDREN. 


55 


and  its  site  is  still  owned  by  bis  descendants.  The  house  stood  on 
Two-Mile  creek,  about  four  miles  north  of  Boonesboro’  and  five 
miles  south  of  where  the  city  of  Winchester  now  stands.  There 
is  a  family  tradition  that  he  gave  a  stonemason  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  land  for  building  a  stone  chimney  at  either  end  of 
this  house.  The  land  so  given  is  at  this  time  (1897)  easily  worth 
twelve  thousand  dollars. 

On  April  11,  1785,  he  united  by  letter  with  Providence  church 
(“the  old  stone  meeting-house")  soon  after  it  had  settled  in  Clark 
county.  Rev.  Robert  Elkin  was  the  pastor  of  the  church,  but  he 
was  assisted  by  Rev.  Andrew  Tribble,  who  also  had  his  membership 
there.  Each  had  his  following  in  the  congregation,  and  in  1790 
considerable  trouble  arose  between  the  two  factions  over  the  merits 
of  their  favorites.  A  division  ensued  in  consequence,  and  the  Trib¬ 
ble  faction  withdrew  and  built  a  frame  church  on  Howard’s  Creek, 
about  where  Tate’s  old  mill  now  stands,  two  miles  north  of  “the 
old  stone  meeting-house.”  Rev.  James  Quisenberry  withdrew 
with  the  Tribble  faction,  his  wife  and  Tribble’s  being  sisters.  The 
new  church  was  called  “Unity,”  and  Rev.  Andrew  Tribble  was  its 
pastor  until  1792,  when  he  resigned  and  moved  to  Madison  county, 
being  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  of  Unity  church  by  Rev.  James 
Quisenberry.  A  large  portion  of  the  congregation  were  from  “the 
Haggard  neighborhood,”  and  they  soon  withdrew  from  Unity  and 
established  a  new  church  on  Stoner’s  branch,  near  where  Antioch 
church  now  stands,  of  which  Rev.  James  Quisenberry  was  also 
pastor. 

Rev.  James  Quisenberry’s  first  wife  died  November  3,  1811, 
after  having  borne  him  thirteen  children;  and  on  December  21,  1811. 
he  was  married  to  Chloe  Shipp,  of  Clark  county,  who  bore  him 
eleven  children,  making  twenty-four  by  the  two  wives.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  second  marriage  his  son-in-law,  John  Haggard,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  entire  Haggard  connection,  withdrew  from  the 
Stoner's  Brandi  church  and  established  a  new  church  on  Indian 
creek,  and  called  another  pastor.  Afterwards  the  present  Mt.  Olive 
church  was  established  by  the  consolidation  of  Unity,  Stoner’s 
Branch  and  Indian  Creek  churches.  Rev.  James  Quisenberry  was 
also  the  pastor  of  “Red  River”  and  “Friendship”  churches.  Friend¬ 
ship  stood  on  a  portion  of  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  Win- 


REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AND  II IS  CIULDREN. 


5d 

cheater  cemetery,  and  it  was  into  the  membership  of  this  church 
that  he  baptized  the  subsequently  distinguished  Rev.  William 
Vaughn,  D.L).,  one  of  the  great  Baptist  lights  of  the  century,  who 
was  converted  under  his  teachings.  Mr.  Quisenberry  never 
charged  nor  received  anything  for  his  services  as  pastor  of  these 
churches,  extending  through  forty  years,  but  accumulated  a  re- 
spetcable  fortune,  for  his  times,  by  farming  and  stock-raising. 
Spencer's  “History  of  Kentucky  Baptists”  says  of  him:  “Mr. 
Quisenberry’s  preaching  gift  was  meager,  but  he  maintained  a  re¬ 
spectable  reputation,  and  accomplished  much  good  among  the 
early  settlers.  He  departed  this  life  August  5,  1830,  leaving  behind 
him  a  very  numerous  posterity,  many  of  whom  have  been  and  still 
are  wealthy  and  influential  citizens  and  valuable  church  members.” 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  children  of  Rev.  James  Quisen¬ 
berry,  copied  from  his  old  Bible,  now  in  the  posessioh  of  this 
writer,  together  with  a  very  brief  account  of  the  descendants  of 
each  of  them,  except  in  the  case  of  his  son,  Colby  Burris  Quisen- 
berry,  of  whose  family  there  is  presented  a  more  detailed  state¬ 
ment.  Some  of  the  names  may  sound  oddly  enough  in  this  day 
and  generation,  but  it  may  perhaps  be  conceded  that  one  who  has 
twenty-four  children  is  entitled  to  some  latitude  in  choosing  names 
for  them: 


CHILDREN  BY  JANE  BURRIS. 

1.  Joyce  Quisenberry,  born  October  25,  1777,  in  Orange 
county,  Virginia,  married  William  Duncan,  of  Clark  county,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  and  at  an  early  day  they  moved  to  Missouri,  where  they  be¬ 
came  wealthy. 

2.  Frances  Quisenberry,  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia, 
October  6,  1779,  married  John  Bruner,  of  Clark  county. 

3.  Jane  Quisenberry,  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  Febru¬ 
ary  22,  1782,  married  Ambrose  Bush,  of  Clark  county. 

4.  Joel  Quisenberry,  born  in  Madison  county,  Virginia  (now 
Madison  county,  Kentucky),  January  31,  1784,  and  married  Eliza¬ 
beth  Haggard,  of  Clark  county.  He  was  about  the  wealthiest  man 
in  Clark  county  in  his  day,  and  the  litigation  over  his  will  is  one 
of  the  causes  celebre  in  the  court  records  of  Kentucky.  Henry 


REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  CHILDREN. 


57 


Clay,  a  short  time  before  liis  death,  made  his  last  speech  before  a 
jury  in  this  case.  Joel  Quisenberry’s  daughter  Joyce  married  Hon. 
Harrison  Thomson,  who  subsequently  represented  Clark  county  for 
several  terms  in  both  the  Senate  and  the  Lower  House  of  the  Ken 
tucky  Legislature,  and  their  daughter,  Elizabeth  Thomson,  mar¬ 
ried  Ben  B.  Groom,  of  Clark  county,  one  of  the  most  famous  breed¬ 
ers  of  Shorthorn  cattle  in  America,  and  who,  in  1873,  sold  a  bull 
calf  six  months  old  for  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 
About  1879  Mr.  Groom  went  to  Texas  and  engaged  in  cattle  ranch¬ 
ing  with  the  “Francklyn  Land  and  Cattle  Company,”  a  syndicate 
of  English  noblemen,  of  whom  Lord  Alfred  Paget,  the  resident 
member,  was  killed  in  Texas.  The  company  owns  a  hundred  square 
miles  of  land  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cattle.  Mr.  Groom’s 
only  child,  Harry  T.  Groom,  is  in  the  newspaper  business  in  Lexing¬ 
ton,  Ky.  Joel  Quisenberry  had  numerous  other  children,  among 
whom  were  Roger,  John,  James  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  all  now  de¬ 
ceased.  His  grandson,  Dr.  Silas  Evans,  is  the  superintendent  of  the 
“High  Oaks  Sanitarium,”  in  Lexington,  Ky. 

5.  James  Harvey  Quisenberry  was  born  in  Fayette  county, 
Virginia  (now  Clark  county,  Kentucky),  on  March  13,  1786,  and 
married  there  a  Miss  Thomas.  He  moved  to  Henry  county,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  where  he  was  murdered  August  5,  1822,  and  where  he  now 
has  numerous  descendants.  One  of  his  grandsons  is  Captain  John 
M.  Ragland,  of  Osceola,  Mo.,  who,  while  in  the  Confederate  service, 
captured  the  colors  of  an  Iowa  regiment.  In  1895  he  presented 
these  colors  to  the  State  of  Iowa,  for  which  he  was  publicly  and 
gracefully  thanked  by  tin1  Governor  of  the  State. 

6.  Colby  Burris  Quisenberry.  (See  Chapter  VII.) 

7.  Tandy  Quisenberry,  born  February  8,  1791,  in  what  is  now 
Clark  county,  Kentucky,  and  married  Peggy  Bush,  of  the  same 
county,  and  they  had  nineteen  children,  all  of  whom  lived  to  be 
men  and  women.  “Aunt  Peggy”  is  said  to  have  wept  most  griev¬ 
ously  because  she  could  not  “even  out”  tin*  twenty.  Among  their 
children  were  Thacker,  now  living  in  Winchester,  Ky.;  Colby  Tandy, 
a  prominent  lawyer  in  New  Mexico.  Philip  Quisenberry,  who  made 
a  surpassing  record  for  dare-devil  bravery  in  the  Confederate  army, 
and  who  is  now  a  merchant  in  Santa  Fe,  Mo.,  is  his  grandson.  Tandy 


58 


REV.  JAMES  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  CHILDREN. 


Quisenberry  was  a  wealthy  man,  and  one  of  tlie  most  highly  es- 
teemed  citizens  of  ('lark  county.  In  his  last  illness,  during  the  au¬ 
tumn  of  18(59,  he  lived  for  sixty  days  without  eating  anything  at 
all.  or  drinking  anything  except  an  occasional  sip  of  water. 

8.  Roger  Quisenberry,  born  in  Clark  county  on  November  23, 
1792,  about  live  months  after  Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  State,  and  died  in  1S77.  He  married  Polly  Eubank, 
daughter  of  Achilles  Eubank,  one  of  the  first  representatives  from 
Clark  county  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature;  and  they  had  fifteen 
children.  He  fought  through  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain, 
and  engaged  in  the  battle  of  the  River  Raisin,  where  he  was  taken 
prisoner  and  carried  to  Fort  George,  where,  after  being  compelled 
to  “run  the  gauntlet”  by  the  Indians,  he  was  paroled  by  the  British. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  an  exceptionally  brave  soldier.  He  acquired 
considerable  wealth,  which  he  subsequently  “fed  away”  in  lavish 
hospitality.  In  Clark  county  his  name  was  the  synonym  of  purity, 
honesty,  and  honor.  He  served  two  terms  as  sheriff  of  the  county. 

9.  William  Fountain  Quisenberry,  born  July  9,  1797,  and 
married  Rachel  Ryan,  of  Clark  county  (the  great-aunt  of  William 
J.  Lampton,  a  distinguished  journalist  of  Washington,  1).  C.),  by 
whom  he  had  numerous  children.  He  was  killed  by  the  accidental 
discharge  of  his  gun  while  hunting  deer  in  the  mountains  of  Ken¬ 
tucky  in  1868.  He  was  a  man  of  substance  and  of  fine  character. 

10.  Mourning  Quisenberry,  born  January  22,  1795,  and  mar¬ 
ried  John  Haggard,  of  Clark  county.  They  had  numerous  children. 

11.  Rhoda  Quisenberry,  born  February  3,  1802,  and  married 
George  Fox,  of  Clark  county,  to  whom  she  bore  numerous  children. 
Their  son,  Clinton  B.  Fox,  has  served  several  terms  each  as  Sheriff 
and  Circuit  Court  Clerk  of  the  county. 

12.  Jackson  Quisenberry,  born  December  16,  1799,  and  mar¬ 
ried  a  Miss  Simpson,  and  went  to  Pettis  county,  Missouri,  where  he 
died  in  1880,  leaving  a  fine  estate  and  numerous  children. 

13.  Sally  Banks  Quisenberry,  born  July  31,  1805,  and  married 
Thomas  Smith  Ragland,  whose  father,  James  Ragland,  served  in 
a  Virginia  Regiment  of  the  Continental  line  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  They  had  a  number  of  children. 


REV.  JAMES  QL’ISENBERRY  AND  HIS  CHILDREN. 


59 


CHILDREN  BY  CHLOE  SHIPP  (THE  SECOND  WIFE). 

14  and  15  (Twins).  Joseph  Harrison  Quisenberry,  born  October 
13,  1813;  still  living  in  1897.  Letty  Quisenberry,  born  October  13, 
1813;  died  July  28,  1814. 

10.  Letitia  Quisenberry,  born  October  23,  1814,  died  in  1890. 
Married  Dr.  Peter  Evans,  son  of  John  Evans,  of  Virginia,  a  Captain 
in  (he  Revolutionary  War.  Their  son,  Dr.  George  W.  Evans,  of 
Richmond,  Ky.,  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Union  Army  during  the  Civil 
War. 

17.  Louis  Colby  Quisenberry,  born  January  18,  1810;  died 
August  28,  1810. 

18.  Kitty  Quisenberry,  born  July  19,  1817;  died  August  4, 
1819. 

19.  Patsey  Quisenberry,  born  March  13,  1819;  died  August 
9,  1830. 

20.  Chloe  Quisenberry,  born  November  18,  1820;  died  January 
0,  1821. 

21.  Sophia  Ann  Quisenberry,  born  October  12,  1821. 

22.  Janies  Harvey  Quisenberry  (second  son  of  that  name), 
born  June  13,  1823,  and  still  living  in  1897.  Was  never  married. 

23.  George  Washington  Quisenberry,  born  January  17,  1825; 
died  June  21,  1842. 

24.  Polly  Ann  Emerine  Quisenberry,  born  July  28.  1829;  mar¬ 
ried  E.  J.  M.  Elkin,  son  of  Rev.  Robert  Elkin,  for  forty-two  years  the 
pastor  of  old  Providence  church,  in  Clark  county.  She  it  was  who 
presented  to  the  compiler  of  this  sketch  the  family  Bible  of  his 
great-grandfather.  Rev.  James  Quisenberry. 

That  there  were  only  twenty-four  children  is  probably  due  to 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Quisenberry  died  in  1830,  at  the  age  of  71,  his 
youngest  child  then  being  about  a  year  old. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


Colby  Burris  Quisenberry,  the  sixth  child  and  third  son  of  Rev. 
James  Quisenberry,  was  born  July  7,  1788,  in  wliat  was  then  Fay¬ 
ette  county,  Virginia,  but  is  now  Clark  county,  Kentucky.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  sternest  integrity,  indomitable  will,  and  most  remark¬ 
able  force  of  character.  He  possessed  all  the  elements  of  a  truly 
great  man,  and  had  he  turned  his  attention  to  politics  or  to  litera¬ 
ture  instead  of  simply  to  making  a  fortune,  he  would  certainly  have 
been  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  time.  But,  true  to  the  char¬ 
acteristics  of  his  race,  he  was  utterly  without  ambition  for  fame 
or  official  position.  Indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  a  contempt  for  such 
things,  but  was  not  above  making  quite  a  considerable  fortune, 
all  of  which  was  honestly  accumulated.  He  was  married  on  Sun¬ 
day,  December  Hi,  1810,  to  Lucy  Bush,  daughter  of  Francis  Bush, 
who  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  “Bush  Settlement,”  in  Clark  county.  Soon 
after  his  marriage  Colby  Quisenberry  and  his  wife  settled  in  Madi¬ 
son  county,  at  what  is  known  as  “the  Red  House,”  which  is  still 
standing,  and  which  has  given  its  name  to  one  of  the  stations  on 
the  Kentucky  Central  Railroad.  Here  he  combined  the  business  of 
tavern-keeping  with  farming  and  trading  in  stock,  and  made  money 
rapidly.  About  this  time  he  was  commissioned  a  Captain  of  Militia 
by  Governor  Isaac  Shelby.  In  those  days  Indians  were  constantly 
strolling  through  the  country  singly  or  in  small  parties,  but  they 
rarely  committed  any  depredations.  They  often  stopped  at  the 
Bed  House  tavern  to  get  something  to  eat,  and  Mrs.  Quisenberry 
frequently  remarked,  in  after  life,  that  she  was  always  afraid  to 
charge  them  anything  for  their  meals  when  her  husband  was  not 
at  the  house.  They  were  never  molested  by  the  Indians,  however, 
at  any  time. 


BuRF°sQu'st' 


;H  Quisenber 


James  Francis  Quisenberry. 


"%*SoN 


FOUR  GENERATIONS. 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


61 


They  lived  at  tlie  Red  House  many  years,  and  most  of  their 
children  were  born  there. 

About  1840  Mr.  Quisenberry  bought  the  farm  of  Captain  Wil¬ 
liam  C.  Simpson,  in  Clark  county,  nearly  two  miles  south  of  Win¬ 
chester,  on  the  Boonesboro'  turnpike.  He  lived  at  this  place  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  and  both  he  and  his  wife,  as  well  as  several  of 
their  children  and  grandchildren,  are  buried  in  the  family  grave¬ 
yard,  only  a  few  rods  from  the  house.  The  place  is  now  (1897) 
owned  by  Mr.  W.  Timberlake. 

When  he  attained  his  majority  Colby  B.  Quisenberry  was  a 
Democrat.  His  father,  when  a  young  man  in  Virginia,  had  known 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  lived  not  far  distant  from  him  in  the  ad¬ 
joining  county  (to  Orange)  of  Albemarle,  and  became  an  ardent 
Jeffersonian,  when  that  great  statesman,  a  few  years  later, 
founded  the  Democratic  party,  which  was  then  known,  however, 
as  the  “Republican”  party.  Colby  B.  Quisenberry  remained  a 
Democrat  until  along  in  the  “forties,”  when  he  voted  for  William 
Henry  Harrison  for  President  of  the  United  States.  He  then  be¬ 
came  a  confirmed  W  hig,  through  the  influence  of  Henry  Clay, 
whom  he  knew  and  greatly  admired;  and  he  remained  a  Whig  until 
that  party  finally  disappeared  from  politics  in  185(1.  In  1860  lie 
supported  Bell  and  Everett,  the  “Union”  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President.  After  that  he  again  became  a  Democrat,  and 
so  remained  until  his  death.  Early  in  youth  lie  united  with  the 
Baptist  church,  and  was  all  his  life  an  earnest,  active,  conscientious 
Christian.  He  always  gave  liberally  to  the  church,  and  the  Baptist 
church  erected  in  Winchester  in  1860  was  built  mainly  by  his  con 
tributions.  Hi*  died  at  sunrise  on  January  1,  1871,  being  then  in 
the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age. 

Lucy  Bush,  the  wife  of  Colby  Burris  Quisenberry,  was  born  in 
the  “Bush  Settlement,”  near  the  old  stone  meeting-house,  on  May 
5,  1790,  and  was  the  daughter  of  Francis  Bush  and  Rachel  (Martin) 
Bush,  his  wife.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  natural  capacity,  and 
was  adorned  with  all  the  Christian  graces.  She  died  December  2, 
1872,  in  her  eighty-third  year. 

The  children  of  Colby  B.  and  Lucy  Quisenberry  were  thirteen 
in  number,  twelve  of  whom  reached  maturity  (and  three  of  whom 
are  still  living),  as  follows: 


62 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBEH BY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


1.  LOUISA  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Madison  county  on 
September  20,  1811.  Slie  married  David  Clienault,  of  the  same 
county,  on  October  25,  1827,  and  they  moved  to  Sumner  county, 
Tennessee,  settling  near  Oastalian  Springs,  and  became  quite 
wealthy.  Their  children  were: 

1.  John  Clienault,,  born  February  21,  1830.  Settled  in  Dallas 
county,  Texas,  and  served  through  the  war  in  the  Confederate  army. 
Died  December,  1896. 

2.  Colby  Clienault,  born  May  15,  1831.  Served  with  the  Ten¬ 
nessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army. 

3.  David  Clienault,  born  January  13,  1833.  Served  with  the 
Tennessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army. 

4.  Janies  Clienault,  born  December  22,  1831.  Served  with  the 
Tennessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army. 

5.  Harvey  Clienault,  born  May  11,  1S37.  Served  with  Ten¬ 
nessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army. 

6.  Sallie  A.  Clienault,  born  October  3,  1839.  Married  — — 
Guthrie. 

7.  Nancy  Clienault,  born  January  26,  1844.  Married  - 

Martin. 

8.  Lucy  Clienault,  born  February  12,  1847.  Married - 

Barry. 

9.  Frances  Clienault,  born  November  21,  1841.  Married - 

Tyree. 

10.  Milton  Waller  Clienault,  born  June  1,  1849.  Married,  and 
has  eight  children. 

11.  Maria  Louisa  Clienault,  born  July  15,  1851.  Married - 

Barry. 

12.  William  Clienault,  born  December  29,  1853. 

13.  Millard  Fillmore  Clienault,  born  February  3,  1856. 

2.  MILTON  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Madison  county  No¬ 
vember  10,  1813.  Married  his  cousin,  Frances  Quisenberry, 
daughter  of  Roger  Quisenberry,  on  September  13,  1838.  Their  issue 
was : 

1.  Ann  E.  Quisenberry,  born  July  7,  1839;  married  Pleasant  J. 
Conkwriglit,  of  Clark  county,  and  had  issue.  Died  in  February, 
1897. 


COLBY  BI'IlRrS  QUISENBERRY  ANI)  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


63 

3.  SALLIE  QUISENBERRY,  born  February  26,  1815,  in  Mad 
ison  county.  Married  William  H.  Ragland,  of  Clark  county,  who 
was  a  grandson  of  James  Ragland,  who  served  in  Captain  Wood¬ 
son's  company,  9th  Virginia  regiment,  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Their  children  were: 

1.  Louisa  Ragland,  born  June  10,  1833. 

2.  Catherine  Ragland,  born  June  28,  1835.  Married,  first, 
William  Burris,  of  Clark  county;  second.  Philip  Elliott,  of  Estill 
county.  Mr.  Elliott  served  in  the  Union  army  during  the  Civil  War. 

3.  Patsey  Elizabeth  Ragland,  born  March  12,  1837.  Married 
Roger  Brookin,  of  Clark  county,  and  they  settled  in  Texas. 

4.  Colby  Quisenberry  Ragland,  born  November  12,  1838. 
Moved  to  Texas  in  I860,  where  he  settled,  and  married  Virginia 
Fant,  and  is  now  a  prosperous  merchant  in  Goliad.  Served  with  the 
Texas  Rangers  in  the  Confederate  army.  Seven  children. 

5.  Lucy  Ann  Ragland,  born  April  22,  1840.  Married  Enoch 
Haggard,  of  Clark  county,  and  they  went  first  to  Missouri  and  then 
to  Texas,  where  they  are  now  living. 

6.  Nathaniel  Ragland,  born  January  16,  1842.  Served  in 
Colonel  I).  Waller  Clienault’s  11th  Kentucky  Confederate  Cavalry, 
and  died  in  Tennessee  during  the  war. 

7.  Elkanah  Ragland,  born  January  24.  1814.  Served  in  Colonel 
Clienault’s  regiment. 

8.  Milton  Ragland,  born  February  26,  1846.  Served  in  Colonel 
(Renault's  regiment.  Married  Louisa  Harris,  of  Clark  county. 

9.  Mary  M.  Ragland,  born  June  7,  1848.  Deceased. 

10.  Sarah  Frances  Ragland,  born  April  24,  1850.  Married 
Samuel  Moore,  of  Bourbon  county. 

11.  William  Thomas  Ragland,  born  July  31,  1852.  Married 
Miss  Moore,  of  Bourbon  county. 

12.  John  Martin  Ragland,  born  March  1,  1854.  Married  Bird 
Ragland,  of  Clark  county. 

13.  James  Fielding  Ragland,  born  January  26,  1856.  Mar¬ 
ried  Miss - Fant,  of  Goliad,  Texas,  and  lives  there. 

4.  RACHEL  JANE  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Madison 
county,  June  2!),  1816.  Married  Thomas  Jenkins,  of  Lincoln  county, 
Kentucky,  in  1836,  and  their  children  were: 

1.  Virgil  Thomas  Jenkins,  born  April  14, 1837. 


G4 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUIS  BN  BERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


2.  Lucy  Jaue  Jenkins,  born  December  19,  1838. 

3.  Marie  Louisa  Jenkins,  born  July  30,  1840. 

4.  Colby  Melville  Jenkins,  born  May  21,  1845. 

5.  Sallie  A.  Jenkins,  born - . 

(3.  James  Quisenberry  Jenkins,  born  December  16,  1847. 

7.  Leslie  T.  Jenkins,  born  January  6,  1850.  Died  in  1886,  leav¬ 
ing  children. 

8.  Rachel  Bush  Jenkins,  born  March  12,  1851. 

(The  above  were  all  married.) 

5.  FIELDING  BUSH  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Madison 
county,  June  6.  1818.  Married  Rebecca  J.  Elkin,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Robert  Elkin,  on  October  8,  1839.  Their  children  were: 

1.  Ezekiel  Colby  Quisenberry,  born  December  31,  1840. 
Served  in  the  8th  Kentucky  Confederate  Cavalry.  Went  to  Texas 
soon  after  the  war  and  married  there. 

2.  Claudius  Vespasian  Quisenberry,  born  October  27,  1842. 
Served  in  the  8th  Kentucky  Confederate  Cavalry.  Now  lives  in 
Collin  county,  Texas,  where  he  married. 

3.  Ann  Smallwood  Quisenberry,  born  March  30,  1844.  Mar¬ 
ried  Robert  Bush,  and  went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

4.  Buford  Allen  Quisenberry,  born  December  24,  1845.  Now 
lives  in  Texas. 

5.  Frances  T.  Quisenberry,  born  August  1,  1848.  Married 
Bartlett  S.  Haggard,  of  Clark  county.  Died  leaving  no  children. 

6.  Sidney  Allan  Quisenberry,  born  November  12,  1851.  Now 
lives  in  Indian  Territory. 

7.  Rodney  M.  Quisenberry,  born  September  5, 1855.  Now  lives 
in  Texas. 

8.  Charles  Crittenden  Quisenberry,  born  December  9,  1858. 
Married  Nannie  Evans,  daughter  of  James  H.  Evans,  of  Win¬ 
chester,  Ky. 

9.  Walter  Lee  Quisenberry,  born  December  10,  1863.  Married 
Nettie  Haggard,  of  Clark  county. 

6.  LUCY  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Madison  county,  August 
2,  1820.  On  October  9,  1839,  married  Robert  Elkin,  son  of  Rev. 
Robert  Elkin.  They  settled  in  Sumner  county,  Tennessee,  near  the 
town  of  Gallatin.  Their  children  were: 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUrSENBERRY  AND  FITS  DESCENDANTS 


65 


1.  Milton  Smallwood  Elkin,  born  October  9,  1841.  Served 
with  the  Tennessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army.  After  the  war 
became  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  and  represented  Sumner  county  in 
the  Tennessee  Legislature.  In  1884  was  a  Cleveland  and  Hendricks 
Presidential  elector.  Died  in  1885,  leaving  issue. 

2.  Colby  Wellington  Elkin,  born  November  25,  1842.  Served 
with  the  Tennessee  troops  in  the  Confederate  army. 

3.  Joyce  Ann  Elkin,  born  September  28,  1844.  Married  - 

Alexander. 

4.  Sarah  Louisa  Elkin,  born  August  5,  1846.  Married  - 

Holmes. 

7.  COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBERRY,  JR.,  born  in  Madison 
county,  August  31,  1822.  Married  Sarah  Tribble,  daughter  of  Dud¬ 
ley  Tribble,  of  Madison  county,  on  July  15,  1847.  They  settled  in 
Fayette  county,  near  David's  Fork  church,  where  they  are  still  liv¬ 
ing.  Their  children  are: 

1.  Ellen  Quisenberry,  born  June  24,  1849.  Died  unmarried. 

2.  Lucy  Belle  Quisenberry,  born  October  9,  1851.  Married 
Blackwell  Carr. 

3.  Madison  Quisenberry.  born  October  27,  1853. 

4.  Dudley  Tribble  Quisenberry,  born  July  11,  1856. 

8.  JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY.  (See  Chapter  VIII. i 

9.  ROGER  TANDY  QUISENBERRY,  born  February  7,  1826. 
Was  never  married.  He  was  a  student  at  the  Drennon  Springs 
(Ky.)  Military  Academy,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  subsequently  dis¬ 
tinguished  James  G.  Blaine;  and  he  also  took  the  law  course  at 
Harvard  University,  but  never  practiced  law.  During  the  Mexican 
War  he  served  as  a  subaltern  in  the  Independent  Company  of  Ken¬ 
tucky  Cavalry  commanded  by  John  S.  Williams,  who  was  subse¬ 
quently  a  Brigadier-General  in  tin*  Confederate  service  and  later 
a  Senator  in  Congress  from  Kentucky.  In  1853  Mr.  Quisenberry 
went  to  the  California  gold  diggings  and  was  not  heard  from  for 
nearly  ten  years.  In  the  meantime  he  had  made  considerable 
money  in  California  and  had  lived  for  some  years  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  Died  October  3,  1892,  in  Clark  county. 

10.  JOYCE  DUNCAN  QUISENBERRY,  born  March  12.  1838, 
and  on  May  12,  1849,  was  married  to  Joseph  Helm  Withers,  of  Har- 


66 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


rodsburg,  Ky.,  in  which  town  they  lived  until  about  the  year  1868, 
when  they  went  to  Audrain  county,  Missouri,  where  they  now  live. 
Their  children  were: 

1.  Kitty  Withers,  born  March  15,  1850.  Deceased. 

2.  Roger  Williams  Withers,  born  June  15.  1851.  Deceased. 

3.  Lucy  Withers,  born  November  12.  1852.  Married  Edgar 
M.  Hultz,  of  Columbia,  Mo. 

4.  Mariana  Withers,  born  November  12,  1852.  Deceased. 

5.  Aileen  Withers,  born  November  24,  1855.  Married  Manlius 
E.  Hultz,  of  Columbia,  Mo. 

6.  Sallie  Withers,  born  February  6,  1858.  Married  Edward  C. 
Gamble,  of  Mexico,  Mo. 

7.  Susan  Withers,  born  August  10,  1860.  Married  John  W. 
Gamble,  of  Mexico,  Mo. 

8.  Ella  D.  Withers,  born  May  10,  1862. 

9.  Josephine  Withers,  born  February  21,  1864. 

10.  Electra  Helm  Withers,  born  August  16,  1869. 

11.  ELKANAH  ELKIN  QUISENBERRY,  born  July  15,  1830. 
Served  in  the  8th  Kentucky  Confederate  Cavalry  during  the  Civil 
War,  and,  on  General  Morgan’s  Ohio  raid,  was  captured  at  Buffing¬ 
ton  Island,  Ohio,  in  1863,  and  remained  a  prisoner  at  Camp  Douglas, 
Illinois,  until  near  the  close  of  hostilities.  November  6,  1868,  he 
married  Ellen  Thornton,  of  Clark  county,  and  aftei’wards  removed 
to  Greene  county,  Missouri,  where  he  died  in  1880.  His  children 
are: 

1.  Florence  B.  Quisenberry,  born  July  31,  1870.  This  lady, 
who  lives  at  Springfield,  Mo.,  now  owns  the  old  family  Bible  of  our 
grandfather,  Colby  Burris  Quisenberry,  which  contains  the  record 
of  his  children  and  grandchildren,  as  well  as  of  his  numerous  slaves. 

2.  Arthur  T.  Quisenberry,  born  February  22,  1872. 

3.  Eugene  Quisenberry,  born  November  9, 1873. 

4.  Charles  W.  Quisenberry,  born  October  31, 1875. 

5.  Mattie  L.  Quisenberry,  born  July  10,  1877. 

6.  Grace  E.  Quisenberry,  born  October  14,  1879. 

7.  Gertrude  E.  Quisenberry,  born  October  14,  1879. 

12.  NEWTON  QUISENBERRY,  born  January  26,  1832.  Died 
December  9,  1836. 


COLBY  BURRIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


67 


13.  JOHN  MARTIN  QUISENBERRY,  born  April  26,  1833. 
On  October  25,  1859,  was  married  to  Sarah  Moore,  of  Montgomery 
county,  Ivy.,  and  they  now  live  at  Ewington,  in  that  county.  He 
was  named  for  his  maternal  great-grandfather,  John  Martin.  His 
children  are: 

1.  Cora  Quisenberry,  born  November  6,  1861. 

2.  Ivanora  Quisenberry,  born  September  16,  1863. 

3.  Audley  Quisenberry,  born  January  27,  1865. 

(There  are,  I  think,  four  other  children,  whose  names  I  have 
not  learned.) 

So  Colby  Burris  Quisenberry  and  Lucy  his  wife  had  thirteen 
children  and  eighty  grandchildren.  Their  great-grandchildren 
and  great-great-grandchildren  are  very  numerous,  indeed. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


James  Francis  Quisenberry,  eighth  child  and  fourth  son  of 
Colby  Burris  Quisenberry,  and  Lucy  Bush,  his  wife,  was  born  at  the 
Red  House,  in  Madison  count}',  on  October  15,  1824.  He  was  named 
for  his  two  grandfathers,  Rev.  James  Quisenberry  and  Francis 
Bush.  He  was  educated  mainly  at  the  Winchester  Male  Academy, 
an  institution  established  by  act  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  in 
1796,  and  endowed  with  six  thousand  acres  of  land.  The  academy 
building  is  still  standing,  though  recently  much  enlarged,  and  is 
used  as  one  of  the  public  schools  of  Winchester.  In  after  life  Mr. 
Quisenberry  became  a  great  reader  and  tilled  his  house  with  stand¬ 
ard  books.  Upon  attaining  his  majority  he  bought  a  little  farm 
in  what  was  then  called  “the  McMillan  neighborhood,”  and  made 
money  rapidly.  October  14,  1847,  he  was  married  to  Emily  Came¬ 
ron  Chenault,  the  daughter  of  Anderson  Chenault  and  Emily 
Cameron,  his  wife,  of  Madison  county.  They  lived  in  this  house 
in  the  McMillan  neighborhood  until  1854,  in  which  year  Mr.  Quis¬ 
enberry  sold  the  place  for  almost  twice  what  he  had  paid  for  it, 
so  greatly  had  he  improved  it.  His  first  three  children  were  born 
at  this  place.  In  1854  Mr.  Quisenberry  bought  what  was  then 
known  as  “the  Miles  place,”  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  ninety 
acres  of  land,  located  on  the  headwaters  of  Howard’s  Lower  Creek, 
about  two  miles  south  of  Winchester,  on  the  Boonesboro’  turn¬ 
pike,  and  adjoining  the  lands  of  his  father,  Colby  B.  Quisenberry. 
The  place  then  had  a  stone  dwelling-house  on  it  reputed  to  have 
been  built  in  1780.  This  house  was  replaced  in  1870  by  a  larger 
one,  of  frame.  To  this  farm  he  added  by  subsequent  purchases  of 
adjoining  lands  until  it  reached  the  dimensions  of  three  hundred 
and  twenty-five  acres.  It  should  have  been  previously  stated  that 
before  buying  this  farm  he  took  two  trips — one  to  Tennessee  and 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


69 


one  to  Missouri — for  prospecting  purposes.  In  Tennessee  he  was 
near  buying  a  tract  of  land  just  across  the  Cumberland  river  from 
Nashville,  where  the  prosperous  city  of  Edgefield  now  stands. 
Had  he  done  this,  of  course  the  “unearned  increment”  would  sub¬ 
sequently  have  made  him  an  enormously  wealthy  man.  The  out¬ 
look  in  Missouri  did  not  please  him  at  all.  During  the  trip  to  that 
State  he  was  accompanied  by  two  of  his  neighbors,  John  Tate  and 
Charles  W.  Capps;  and  on  one  occasion  the  three  were  overturned 
from  a  skiff  in  the  middle  of  the  Missouri  river,  near  Kansas  City. 
Neither  Tate  nor  Capps  could  swim,  but  Mr.  Quisenberry,  who 
was  an  expert  swimmer,  succeeded  in  getting  them  both  fo 
shore  and  unquestionably  saved  their  lives. 

For  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Mr.  Quisenberry  was  an  “Old 
Line  Whig,”  though  no  party  at  any  time  fully  represented  his 
views  upon  questions  of  public  policy.  Though  a  slave-holder  and 
the  descendant  of  six  generations  of  slave-holders,  he  was  opposed 
to  slavery  and  favored  gradual  emancipation.  Although  a  Whig 
by  family  association  and  training,  he  never  did  believe  in  a  pro¬ 
tective  tariff.  When  the  Civil  War  began,  though  sympathizing 
ardently  and  openly  with  the  South,  he  was  in  favor  of  Kentucky 
remaining  in  the  old  Union.  Subsequently,  he  changed  his  views 
on  this  subject,  and  favored  the  secession  of  the  State.  He  cast 
his  first  Democratic  vote  during  the  war,  and  remained  a  Democrat 
until  his  death.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  united  with  the 
Baptist  congregation  at  “the  old  stone  meeting-house;”  but  later  in 
life  his  extensive  reading  engendered  doubts  upon  religious  ques¬ 
tions,  and  he  separated  himself  from  church  associations.  He 
was  an  extremely  kind-hearted,  generous  man,  and  was  very  popu¬ 
lar  with  those  who  knew  him,  for  he  was  the  soul  of  honor  and 
integrity  in  all  his  dealings.  He  made  money  easily  and  spent  it 
lavishly,  which  is  all  that  prevented  him  from  becoming  a  very 
wealthy  man.  He  never  sought  public  office,  which  he  might 
easily  have  attained;  and,  although  frequently  solicited  by  friends, 
especially  in  his  early  manhood,  to  stand  for  office,  he  always  de¬ 
clined  to  do  so.  In  1876  he  rented  his  farm,  then  consisting  of 
three  hundred  acres,  for  a  term  of  three  years,  at  $2,100  a  year, 
which  is  perhaps  the  highest  rent  ever  received  for  a  farm  of  that 


70 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBEKRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


size,  to  be  used  for  strictly  farming  purposes,  in  Kentucky.  He 
tben  rented  a  small  place  near  Boonesboro’  to  occupy  until  the 
lease  on  liis  farm  should  expire;  and  there  he  died  on  February  3, 
1877,  of  softening  of  the  brain,  from  which  he  had  been  suffering 
for  several  years. 

Emily  Cameron  Chenault,  the  wife  of  James  Francis  Quisen- 
berry,  was  born  in  Madison  county,  February  15,  1832,  at  the  home 
which  her  grandfather,  William  Chenault,  had  bought  of  Josiali 
Phelps,  who  had  it  of  George  Boone,  the  brother  of  Daniel  Boone. 
She  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  county,  and  at  a  seminary 
for  young  women  at  Versailles,  Kentucky.  She  married  Mr.  Quis- 
enberry  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age.  About  1859  she  united 
with  the  Baptist  congregation  at  the  “old  stone  meeting-house,” 
but  later  moved  her  membership  to  the  Baptist  church  at  Win¬ 
chester.  She  is  a  good  Christian  woman  and  the  best  of  mothers. 

The  children  of  James  Francis  Quisenberry  and  Emily  Cameron 
Chenault,  his  wife,  are  as  follows: 

1.  EMMA  ALICE  QUISENBERRY,  born  October  26,  1848. 
She  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Winchester,  Danville  and  Rich¬ 
mond,  Kentucky;  and  early  displayed  a  strong  literary  tendency. 
Many  of  her  poems  and  prose  sketches  were  favorably  received  by 
competent  critics,  among  whom  was  George  D.  Prentice,  the 
veteran  editor  of  the  Louisville  Journal.  She  was  married  June 
21,  1870  at  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Winchester,  to  Joseph  Ad¬ 
dison  Hinkle,  a  prosperous  young  business  man  of  Louisville. 
Mr.  Hinkle  is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  served  in  the  Confederate 
army.  He  was  taken  prisoner  when  Fort  Donelson  capitulated  to 
General  Grant,  and  was  imprisoned  at  Camp  Douglas,  Illinois. 
He  succeeded  in  escaping  from  this  place,  and  made  his  way  safely 
back  to  Dixie.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he  engaged  in  business 
as  a  “commercial  traveler”  for  Louisville  houses,  and  always  com¬ 
manded  the  best  salaries  paid  for  such  services,  and  for  a  long 
time  was  paid  $6,000  a  year.  He  now  has  his  home  at  McKenzie, 
Tennessee,  though  employed  by  a  Baltimore  house. 

The  children  of  Joseph  Addison  Hinkle  and  Emma  Alice  Quis¬ 
enberry,  his  wife,  are  as  follows: 


ANDERSON  CHENAULT  QUISENBERRY. 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERHY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


71 


1.  Emma  May  Hinkle,  born  May  18,  1.871,  in  Louisville  (cor¬ 
ner  of  Seventh  and  Jefferson  streets),  married  January  — ,  1894,  to 
N.  F.  McDonald,  of  McKenzie,  Tennessee. 

2.  James  Marvin  Hinkle,  born  November  11,  1873,  at  tin* 
home  of  his  grandfather,  James  Francis  Quisenberry,  in  Clark 
county,  Kentucky.  Now  lives  in  Texas. 

3.  Lewise  Rogers  Hinkle,  born  in  Louisville  December  7. 
1880.  Died  in  McKenzie,  Tenn.,  August  25,  1887. 

2.  ANDERSON  CHENALLT  QUISENBERRY,  the  compiler 
of  these  chronicles,  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Kentucky,  on  October 
20,  1850 — two  years,  to  a  day,  after  the  birth  of  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Hinkle.  Two  of  his  own  children  also  have  the  same  birthday — July 
10 — though  four  years  apart.  He  was  named  for  his  maternal  grand¬ 
father,  Anderson  Chenault.  His  life  has  not  been  particularly 
eventful,  but  upon  the  supposition  that  nearly  anything  about  him¬ 
self  may  be  interesting  to  his  children  and  possible  future  descend¬ 
ants,  for  whose  benefit  this  sketch  is  mainly  written,  occurrences 
in  his  life  may  perhaps  be  excusably  mentioned,  though  totally  un¬ 
interesting  to  any  one  else.  He  attended  the  schools  in  and  near 
Winchester,  and  from  1807  to  1809,  inclusive,  was  a  student  at 
Georgetown  College,  Kentucky.  The  first  school  he  attended,  was 
taught  in  the  old  Presbyterian  church  building  in  Winchester, 
which  stood  where  Dr.  Washington  Miller’s  residence  now  stands. 
In  1870,  soon  after  leaving  college  he  served  a  term  as  principal  of 
Ihe  Winchester  Male  Academy,  where  his  father  had  been  a  pupil 
more  than  thirty  years  before.  That  same  year  his  father  bought 
for  him  a  half  interest  in  the  Clark  County  Democrat,  a  newspaper 
published  in  Winchester.  He  edited  this  paper  about  a  year,  and 
then  sold  his  interest  to  his  partner.  Captain  James  M.  Parris. 
Subsequently  he  bought  the  whole  plant,  and  published  the  paper 
until  October,  1873,  having  for  partners,  at  different  times,  John 
E.  Garner,  since  Mayor  of  Winchester,  and  his  brother,  Waller 
Quisenberry.  Tt  should  be  stated,  however,  that  previous  to  buy¬ 
ing  the  paper  from  Captain  Parris,  Mr.  Quisenberry  made  several 
trips  through  Kentucky  as  a  “commercial  traveler”  for  a  Louis¬ 
ville  hardware  house.  In  October.  1873,  he  sold  the  Democrat  to 
Judge  William  M.  Beckner  (who  has  since  served  his  district  in 


.TAME?  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


72 

Congress)  and  then  farmed  with  his  father  for  about  a  year.  In  1874 
he  again  went  to  Louisville,  where  he  was  employed  at  various 
times  on  the  Courier-Journal,  Evening  Gazette,  Evening  Tribune, 
and  Evening  Ledger.  He  assisted  O.  H.  Kothacker  and  others  in 
establishing  the  Louisville  Sunday  Argus,  which  had  a  prosperous 
career.  Then  back  to  Winchester,  where  he  assisted  Judge  Beck- 
ner  on  the  Democrat  until  November  1,  1878,  when,  in  conjunction 
with  William  T.  Adams,  James  J.  Adams  and  William  W.  Smith, 
he  established  the  Winchester  Semi-Weekly  Sun.  About  a  year 
subsequently  his  brother,  Francis  Quisenberry,  went  into  the  con¬ 
cern.  and  they  bought  the  best  printing  outfit  that  had  ever  been 
in  Winchester  up  to  that  time.  Upon  the  death  of  his  brother 
Francis,  shortly  afterwards,  Mr.  Quisenberry  disposed  of  his  inter¬ 
est  in  the  Sun,  having  previously  accepted  the  editorship  of  the 
Lexington  Daily  Transcript.  From  1881  to  18S5  he  was  editor, 
first  of  the  Transcript,  then  of  the  Lexington  Daily  Press,  and  then 
again  of  the  Transcript.  For  several  years  of  this  time  he  was  the 
Lexington  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  which  paid 
extremely  well.  He  was  also  the  Lexington  correspondent  of  the 
Louisville  Courier-Journal  for  about  a  year;  and  for  some  years 
he  furnished  the  Central  Kentucky  news  to  the  Western  Asso¬ 
ciated  Press.  Altogether,  his  active  career  as  a  journalist  covered 
a  period  of  more  than  fifteen  years. 

In  September,  1885,  General  James  F.  Robinson,  then  Col¬ 
lector  of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  Seventh  District  of  Kentucky, 
with  his  office  at  Lexington,  appointed  Mr.  Quisenberry  one  of  his 
deputies,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  June  1,  1889.  when  lie 
accepted  an  appointment  under  the  Civil  Service  Act  as  a  clerk 
in  the  Quartermaster  General's  office,  War  Department,  Washing¬ 
ton,  D.  C.  Six  months  later  he  was  promoted  one  grade,  and  six 
months  after  that  was  transferred  to  the  office  of  the  Inspector 
General  of  the  Army,  with  a  further  promotion  of  an  additional 
grade.  His  next  promotion  after  that  was  on  March  16,  1893. 
since  which  time  he  has  not  been  promoted. 

In  1873  Mr.  Quisenberry  was  a  candidate  for  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  clerk  of  the  Clark  County  Court,  but  withdrew  be¬ 
fore  the  primary  was  over.  In  1881  he  was  a  candidate  for  the 


JAMES  FllANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


73 


Democratic  nomination  for  Representative  in  the  Legislature  from 
Clark  county.  His  opponents  were  Hon.  I.  N.  Boone  and  Thomas 
G.  Stuart,  the  latter  being  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Clark  County 
Democrat.  Stuart  defeated  Mr.  Quisenberry  by  a  plurality  of 
three  votes.  This  was  perhaps  the  closest  and  most  exciting  po¬ 
litical  contest  ever  had  in  Clark  county,  owing,  to  some  extent,  no 
doubt,  to  the  bitterness  growing  out  of  a  personal  difficulty  be¬ 
tween  Mr.  Stuart  and  Mr.  Quisenberry.  The  difficulty  was  occa¬ 
sioned  bty  a  vile,  untrue  and  uncalled  for  publication  made  by  Mr. 
Stuart,  in  his  paper,  concerning  Mr.  Quisenberry. 

Mr.  Quisenberry  has  always  been  a  strict  construction  Demo 
crat,  and  since  the  year  1889  has  been  an  ardent  advocate  of  the 
theory  of  the  single  tax  on  land  values,  as  promulgated  by  Henry 
George,  and  believes  that  that  is  a  sure  remedy  for  all  the  political 
and  most  of  the  social  ills  that  afflict  humanity.  He  has  never  be¬ 
longed  to  any  church,  and,  indeed,  has  no  belief  in  any  of  the  ac 
eepted  systems  of  theology.  He  became  a  Freemason  in  1871,  an 
Odd  Fellow  in  1873,  and  has  belonged  to  several  minor  secret  or¬ 
ders.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  Branch  of  the  So¬ 
ciety  of  Colonial  Wars  (of  which  he  is  the  Historian)  since  January, 
1896,  his  State  number  being  10.  He  derives  eligibility  for  this 
membership  from  his  two  great-great-grandfathers,  Thomas  Bur¬ 
ris  and  Matthew  Mullins,  who  served  in  Braddock’s  War.  He  has 
also  been  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution  since  1890  (State  number,  129;  National 
number,  2029),  deriving  eligibility  from  three  great-grandfathers, 
Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  William  Chenault  and  Francis  Bush; 
and  from  three  great-great-grandfathers,  Thomas  Burris,  Matthew 
Mullins,  and  John  Martin,  all  of  whom  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  Mr.  Quisenberry  was  also  the  editor  and  compiler  of  the 
Year  Book  of  the  Kentucky  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  for  1896,  which  contains  his  portrait  and  publishes  a 
list  of  the  officers  of  the  Virginia  Line  who  received  land  bounties, 
a  roll  of  the  Revolutionary  pensioners  in  Kentucky;  a  list  of  the 
Illinois  Regiment  who  served  under  George  Rogers  Clark  in  the 
Northwestern  campaign;  and  a  roster  of  the  Virginia  Revolution¬ 
ary  Navy.  Another  production  of  Mr.  Quisenberry’s  that  has  ar 


74 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISEN BERRY  AND  IIIS  DESCENDANTS. 


tained  the  dignity  of  publication  in  book  form  is  the  ‘Life  and 
Times  of  Humphrey  Marshall,  the  Elder,"  published  in  1892.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Filson  Club  since  May  7,  1888. 

On  May  1,  1879,  Anderson  C.  Quisenberry  was  married,  in 
Springfield,  Ohio,  to  Miss  Corinna  Broomhall.  She  was  born  in 
Wilmington,  Ohio,  on  October  3,  1858.  Her  father,  Webb  Broom- 
hall,  was  a  Pennsylvanian  by  birth;  and  her  mother,  Adelaide  Fin¬ 
ish1,  was  born  at  Ernest-Town,  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Quinte, 
in  Ontario,  Canada.  Mrs.  Quisenberry  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Circleville,  Ohio  (to  which  place  her  parents  had  removed  when 
she  was  quite  young),  and  at  the  Catholic  Conventual  School  at 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  College,  at  Delaware. 
She  early  evinced  a  decided  talent  for  music,  and  took  a  thorough 
course  in  that  science  at  the  Conservatory  of  Music  at  Xenia,  Ohio. 
In  1876,  she  went  to  Winchester,  Kentucky,  and  began  teaching 
music,  and  at  once  became  very  popular  as  a  teacher.  Her  in¬ 
struction  to  pupils  was  unusually  thorough,  and  was  conscien¬ 
tiously  imparted.  The  result  was  that  she  at  once  gained  the  con¬ 
fidence  and  esteem  of  the  people,  and  secured  all  the  pupils  she 
could  handle,  and  might  easily  have  had  as  many  more  if  she 
would  have  taken  them.  After  the  removal  to  Lexington  she 
taught  music  for  several  terms  in  Hamilton  Female  College,  and 
gave  great  satisfaction.  She  is  an  Episcopalian  by  preference, 
though  not  a  communicant  of  any  church. 

The  children  of  Anderson  Chenault  Quisenberry  and  Corinna 
Broomhall,  his  wife,  are: 

1.  Adelaide  Corinna  Quisenberry,  born  Monday,  July  10, 
1881,  at  12:30  P.  M.,  on  Maxwell  street,  corner  Yertner  street, 
Lexington,  Ky.  She  has  been  a  member  of  the  Capital  Society, 
Children  of  the  American  Revolution,  since  1895,  and  is  Historian 
of  the  Society.  (National  numebr,  49;  Society  number,  21.)  Named 
for  her  grandmother  Adelaide  Broomhall  and  for  her  mother. 

2.  James  Francis  Quisenberry,  born  Saturday,  July  10,  1886, 
at  12:15  A.  M.,  at  No.  47  West  Sixth  street,  Lexington,  Ky.  Mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Capital  Society,  Children  of  the  American  Revolution 
since  1895.  (National  number,  50;  Society  number,  22.)  Named  for 
his  grandfather  and  his  uncle. 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


75 


3.  Colby  Broomhall  Quisenberry,  born  Sunday,  December 
1(»,  1888,  at  11:30  A.  M.,  at  No.  47  West  Sixth  street,  Lexington, 
Ivy.  Member  of  the  Capital  Society,  Children  of  the  American 
Revolution  since  1895.  (National  number,  51;  Society  number, 
23.)  His  great-grandfather,  Colby  Quisenberry,  for  whom  he 
was  named,  was  born  just  a  hundred  years  before — 1788 — and 
was  married  78  years  before  to  a  day— Sunday,  December  16,  1819. 

4.  Florence  Emily  Quisenberry,  born  Saturday,  June  8,  1895, 
7  o’clock  A.  M.,  at  737  Sixth  street,  N.  E.,  Washington,  D.  C.  At 
the  age  of  ten  months  she  became  the  baby  member  of  Capital 
Society,  Children  of  the  American  Revolution.  (National  number, 
1179;  Society  number,  — .)  Named  Emily  for  her  grandmother, 
Emily  Quisenberry. 

3.  WALLER  QUISENBERRY,  born  in  Clark  county,  on 
January  12,  1853.  He  was  educated  at  the  same  schools  and  col¬ 
lege  that  his  brother,  A.  C.  Quisenberry,  attended.  He  is  one  of 
the  most  prominent,  intelligent  and  highly  respected  citizens  of 
his  native  county,  where  he  now  lives.  He  is  perhaps  the  tallest 
of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry’s  descendants,  being  six  feet  and  one 
inch  in  height.  Rev.  Janies  Quisenberry  himself  was  six  feet 
and  six  inches  in  height,  but  his  wives  were  small.  Waller 
Quisenberry  was  one  of  the  owners  and  editors  of  the  Clark  County 
Democrat  in  1872,  but  soon  withdrew  from  journalism  and  went 
to  Texas,  where  he  spent  about  a  year.  In  1874  he  taught  a  school 
near  Republican  church,  in  Madison  county,  Kentucky.  He  lias 
been  a  farmer  for  the  most  of  his  life,  and  owns  a  good  farm  in 
Clark  county,  on  which  lie  has  prospered.  He  was  named  for  his 
uncle,  Colonel  D.  Waller  Chenault.  He  was  married  on  December 
12,  1894,  to  Miss  Emma  Lisle,  of  Clark  county,  daughter  of  James 
Hockaday  Lisle  and  Mary  Hampton,  his  wife,  and  niece  of  Hon. 
Marcus  C.  Lisle,  who  represented  his  district  in  the  Fiftieth  Con¬ 
gress.  Waller  Quisenberry  and  wife  have  one  child,  a  daughter,  as 
yet  unnamed,  born  Sept.  17,  1896. 

4.  JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY,  JR.,  born  in  Clark 
county,  on  January  23,  1855,  and  died  at  the  “home  place”  on 
February  4,  1880,  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  after  an  illness  of  three 
weeks’  duration.  He  was  unmarried.  He  was  educated  at  George- 


76 


JAMES  FRANCIS  QUISENBERRY  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 


town  College,  and  was  probably  better  informed  and  had  achieved 
a  wider  and  more  general  course  of  reading  than  any  man  of  his 
age  in  Kentucky.  In  the  opinion  of  this  writer,  he  had  the  highest 
mentality  and  brightest  intellect  of  any  of  Rev.  James  Quisen- 
berry’s  descendants.  He  became  one  of  the  editors  and  owners  of 
the  Winchester  Semi-Weekly  Sun  on  January  1,  1880,  about  a 
month  before  his  death.  He  was  named  for  his  father,  and  inci¬ 
dentally  for  two  of  his  great-grandfathers — lev.  James  Quisen- 
berry  and  Francis  Bush. 

“  Only  the  dead  hearts  forsake  us  never; 

Love,  that  to  Death’s  loyal  care  has  fled 
Is  thus  consecrated  ours  forever, 

And  no  change  can  rob  us  of  our  dead." 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 

The  Bush  family,  of  Clark  county,  Kentucky,  is  said  to  have  de¬ 
scended  from  John  Bush,  who  came  from  England  and  settled 
at  Kiccoughtan  (now  Hampton),  Virginia,  in  the  year  1618,  and 
while  there  is  probably  no  doubt  whatever  of  this  being  a  fact, 
still,  on  account  of  the  destruction  of  many  old  records  in  Vir¬ 
ginia,  it  has  not  been  found  possible  to  trace  the  connection. 

The  furthest  back  the  Clark  county  Bushes  have  been  abso¬ 
lutely  traced  is  to  John  Bush,  of  St.  Thomas  Parish,  Orange  county, 
Virginia,  whose  will  was  probated  in  that  county  in  1746.  (See 
Appendix,  VIII,  19.)  In  this  will  his  wife  is  mentioned  as  Bridget 
Bush,  and  the  following  children  are  enumerated:  (1)  Philip; 
(2)  Martha  Bruce;  (3)  Elizabeth  Sanders;  (4)  John;  (5)  Thomas; 
(6)  Daniel.  The  testator,  John  Bush,  was  probably  born  not  later 
than  1670,  and  was  doubtless  the  grandson  of  the  pioneer  John 
Bush  who  settled  at  Kiccoughtan  in  1618.  In  this  connection  the 
following  note  from  the  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biog¬ 
raphy  (Vol.  I,  page  194)  may  be  of  interest: 

“John  Bush,  of  Kiccoughtan,  in  the  Corporation  of  Elizabeth 
City,  Gentleman,  who  came  over  in  the  Neptune,  at  his  own  charge, 
in  1618,  was  patented  300  acres;  50  in  his  own  right,  150  for  tin? 
transportation  out  of  England  of  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  and  his  chil¬ 
dren,  Elizabeth  and  Mary  Bush,  who  all  came  in  the  Guift,  in  1619  ; 
and  100  acres  for  the  transportation  of  his  two  servants,  Thomas 
Hand  and  William  Pucker,  who  came  in  the  Charles  in  1621,  said 
land  being  in  the  parish  of  Kiccoughtan  and  adjoining  the  lands  of 
Lieutenant  Albino  Lupo  and  William  Julian  and  bordering  on  the 
main  river.  Granted  by  Wyatt  in  1624.” 


78 


TIIE  BUSH  FAMILY 


This  extract  mentions  only  two  children,  both  daughters;  but 
there  were  doubtless  several  others,  both  sous  and  daughters,  in  the 
course  of  time.  The  Bushes  have  never  been  deficient  in  that  re¬ 
spect. 

Philip  Bush,  of  St.  Thomas  Parish,  Orange  county,  Virginia, 
the  eldest  son  of  John  Bush,  sr.,  of  the  same  county  and  parish,  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  Clark  county  branch  of  the  family.  The  first 
mention  found  concerning  him  in  the  records  of  Orange  county  is 
where,  on  March  6,  1745,  William  Bryan,  of  St.  Thomas  Parish, 
Orange  county,  sold  to  Philip  Bush,  of  the  same  county  and  parish, 
one  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  same  county  and  parish,  “in  con¬ 
sideration  of  five  shillings  and  the  rent  of  one  ear  of  Indian  corn 
yearly,  at  the  feast  of  St.  Michael,  the  Archangel,  when  lawfully 
demanded.”  One  of  the  witnesses  to  this  deed  was  Zachary  Taylor, 
Ihe  grandfather  of  the  President  of  that  name.  The  William  Bryan 
who  sold  the  land  was  very  probably  the  ancestor  of  William 
Jennings  Bryan,  whose  Virginia  forefathers  lived  in  Orange  and 
the  adjoining  county  of  Culpeper. 

Philip  Bush,  in  his  will  (see  Appendix  VIII,  20),  probated  in 
Orange  county,  Virginia,  on  September  24,  1772  (which  was  prob¬ 
ably  not  more  than  a  month  or  so  after  his  death),  and  witnessed 
by  James  Madison,  the  father  of  President  Madison,  names  ten  chil¬ 
dren,  and  disposes  of  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  £75  in  money,  four 
slaves,  and  some  personal  property.  Several  of  the  children  received 
no  bequests  of  land,  and  doubtless  he  had  previously  provided 
for  them  in  that  respect.  At  the  time  the  will  was  made  it  seems 
his  wife  was  not  living,  as  she  is  not  mentioned  in  it,  and  none  of 
her  descendants  now  know  what  her  maiden  name  was.  Her  given 
name  was  Mary.  The  children  mentioned  in  the  will  are:  (1)  Jo- 
siah;  (2)  Philip;  (3)  John;  (4)  William;  (5)  Ambrose;  (6)  Mrs.  Sarah 
Watts;  (7)  Mrs  Mary  Richards;  (8)  Joseph;  (9)  Joshua;  (10)  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Johnson.  It  is  likely  that  all  the  sons  named  saw  service 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  It  is  known  that  some  of  them  did. 

Most  of  these  children  moved  to  Kentucky,  sooner  or  later, 
and  some  of  them  settled  in  what  was  called  “the  Barrens,”  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  State;  and  to  this  stock  belongs  Sarah 
Bush,  the  second  wife  of  Robert  Lincoln,  the  father  of  Abraham 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


7!) 


Lincoln.  Christopher  Bush  was  on  Robert  Lincoln’s  bond  for  this 
marriage. 

Those  of  the  children  of  Philip  Bush,  sr.,  who  settled  in 
Clark  county,  Kentucky,  and  founded  the  famous  “Bush  Settle 
ment,”  in  the  midst  of  which  Providence  Baptist  church,  or 
“the  old  stone  meeting  house,”  was  located,  were: 

1.  PHILIP  BUSH,  born  October  18,  1730.  In  his  youth  lie 
courted  a  young  lady  in  Virginia  who  rejected  him  and  married 
Colonel  John  Vivion  instead,  but  she  promised  that  he  might  marry 
her  first  daughter,  if  she  should  have  a  daughter;  and  sure  enough 
he  did  marry  her  eldest  daughter,  Frances  Vivion,  some  eighteen 
or  twenty  years  later,  when  he  was  forty  years  of  age.  Among 
his  children  were  Robert  Bush,  the  father  of  the  famous  Dr.  Bush, 
of  Lexington;  Colonel  John  Bush;  Peggy,  who  married  Tandy 
Quisenberry,  and  Polly,  who  married  a  Mr.  McMurtry. 

2.  MARY  BUSH,  born  July  3,  1738;  married  Robin  Richards. 

3.  JOHN  BUSH,  born  February  2,  1712.  He  was  twice  mar¬ 
ried,  and  the  name  of  his  first  wife  is  not  now  known.  His  second 
wife  was  Polly  Tillman. 

4.  WILLIAM  BLTSH  (better  known  as  “Captain  Billy  Bush”), 
horn  October  21),  1746;  died  July  26,  1815.  He  married  Frances 
Tandy  Burris,  a  sister  of  Jane  Burris,  the  first  wife  of  Rev.  James 
Quisenberry.  Captain  Billy  Bush  accompanied  Daniel  Boone  on 
his  second  trip  to  Kentucky,  in  1770,  and  was  a  great  Indian  fighter. 
He  also  served  under  George  Rogers  Clark  in  tin1  Illinois  campaign, 
which  won  the  great  Northwest  Territory  for  the  United  States. 
His  tombstone  says  that  “He  was  the  friend  and  companion  of 
Daniel  Boone.” 

5.  AMBROSE  BUSH,  born  April  8,  1748;  married  Lucy  Col¬ 
son,  or  Gholson.  They  were  Ihe  grandparents  of  Hon.  Ambrose 
G.  Bush,  who  for  fifty  years  has  been  the  clerk  of  old  Providence 
church,  and  of  Judge  James  H.  Bush.  Richard  G.  Bush,  and  Valen¬ 
tine  W.  Bush. 

6.  FRANCIS  BUSH,  born  February  20,  1750.  The  name  of 
his  first  wife  is  not  known,  but  their  children  were:  (1 )  Fanny,  who 

married - Bradley;  (2)  Polly,  who  married  Ambrose  Christy;  (3) 

Nancy,  who  married  Thomas  Vivion;  (4)  Betsey,  who  married  Daniel 


80 


THE  IiUSH  FAMILY. 


Orear.  The  second  wife  of  Francis  Bush  was  Rachel  Martin,  and 
their  children  were:  (5)  Lucy,  who  married  Colby  Burris  Quisen- 
berry;  (6)  Sallie,  who  married  George  Matthews;  (7)  Fielding,  who 
married  Adelaide  Halyard,  daughter  of  Captain  John  Halyard, 
who  commanded  a  Virginia  company  in  the  Revolutionary  war; 
(S)  Jordan,  who  married  Sallie  Miller  Stewart.  One  of  the  grand¬ 
daughters  of  Fielding  Bush  married  Hon.  John  H.  Reagan,  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  afterwards  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Texas,  then  Postmaster-General  of  the  Confederate  States 
of  America,  so  called,  and  subsequently  Representative  and  then 
Senator  from  Texas  in  the  United  States  Congress. 

Francis  Bush  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
enlisted  February  14,  1778,  in  Captain  William  Taylor’s  company  of 
Colonel  Christian  Febiger’s  2d  Virginia  Regiment  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Line,  and  served  one  year.  His  second  wife’s  father,  John 
Martin,  served  as  a  sergeant  in  the  same  regiment  and  company 
from  September  16,  1776,  to  September  16,  1779.  This  family  of 
Martins  are  traditionally  descended  from  Captain  John  Martin, 
one  of  the  Royal  Councillors  of  Jamestown  in  1607. 

Francis  Bush's  home  was  on  the  hill,  southwest  of  the  old 
stone  meeting-house,  and  distant  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  church.  It  was  demolished  about  sixty  years  ago  (1836),  but 
remnants  of  the  chimneys  still  remain  to  mark  the  spot.  He  origin¬ 
ally  owned  the  spot  upon  which  the  old  church  stands,  and  deeded 
it  to  the  congregation  to  build  their  house  of  worship  on.  He 
united  with  the  church  by  open  confession  and  baptism  on  August 
5,  1786.  The  date  of  his  death  is  not  known,  but  Rachel,  his  wife, 
died  in  1861,  being  then  nearly  one  hundred  years  old. 

The  following  extract  from  Mrs.  Julia  Tevis’  valuable  auto¬ 
biography,  “Sixty  Years  in  a  School  Room,”  is  very  interesting, 
not  only  in  connection  with  the  Bush  family,  but  also  in  connection 
with  the  early  history  of  Clark  county. 

Mrs.  Tevis  says: 

“  I  w  as  born  December  5, 1799,  in  Clark  county,  Kentucky.  My 
grandparents  on  both  sides  were  among  the  earliest  immigrants 
from  Virginia  into  this  State.  Their  location  in  the  vicinity  of 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


81 


Boonesboro’  brought  them  into  familiar  intercourse  and  com¬ 
panionship  with  Daniel  Boone,  and  my  maternal  grandfather,  Am¬ 
brose  Bush,  with  his  four  brothers,  were  among  the  most  cele¬ 
brated  of  the  ‘old  Indian  fighters.’  Their  numerous  descendants 
were  scattered  over  so  large  a  portion  of  Clark  county  as  to  give  it 
fhe  name  of  ‘Bush  Settlement.’  Thrifty  and  respectable  farmers, 
they  occupied  a  position  in  society  both  honorable  and  useful. 
*  *  *  My  grandmother  Bush  was  a  strictly  pious  Baptist;  my 

grandmother  Hieronvinous  a  Methodist  of  the  old  school,  a  real 
Wesleyan,  thoroughly  and  decidedly  religious.  *  *  *  I  remem¬ 

ber  my  grandmother  Bush  more  distinctly,  as  much  of  my  time 
between  the  ages  of  four  and  seven  was  spent  with  her.  Like 
gleams  of  light  come  up  now  my  joyous  Saturday  evenings  and 
Sundays  at  the  old  homestead,  and  the  many  dear,  merry,  warm¬ 
hearted  cousins,  with  whom  I  so  often  played  ‘Mrs.  Bush,’  or  ‘Lady 
Come  to  See’ — the  Bushes  being  so  numerous  that  we  had  no  idea 
but  that  they  tilled  the  world.  Our  world  they  did  fill.  I  can, 
even  now,  see  in  the  dim,  shadowy  distance  the  tall,  queenly  form 
of  my  grandmother,  simply  attired  in  a  dove-colored  dress  and  plain 
white  ’kerchief,  with  a  cap  faultless  in  shape  and  of  showy  white¬ 
ness,  setting  olf  the  most  benevolent  of  features.  I  can  hear  her 
quick  step,  and  her  sweet  voice  calling  ‘Jennie,  Julia,  Esther, 
Polly!”- — her  four  daughters;  for  when  she  wanted  one  she  never 
failed  to  call  them  all  over  before  she  could  get  the  right  name. 
And  from  habitual  quickness  of  word,  thought  and  action  she  often 
made  a  laughable  pell-mell  of  words.  When  she  called  for  her  black 
mare  to  be  saddled — for  everybody  rode  on  horseback  in  those  days, 
there  being  nothing  more  than  bridle  paths — it  was:  ‘Warrick,  run 
up  the  black  mare,  bring  down  the  backstairs  and  put  my  saddle  on 
it  right  away;  quick,  quick,  for  I  must  go  to  sister  Frankey’s  at 
once.’  And  how  often  have  I  ridden  to  the  stone  meeting-house 
behind  her  on  that  same  black  mare,  and  walked  over  and  around 
the  churchyard  where  now  my  beloved  grandparents  lie  buried 
with  many  of  their  descendants.  Grandfather  was  often  away  from 
home  on  the  ‘war-path’  for  days  and  weeks  at  a  time.  During  his 
absence  my  grandmother  kept  her  little  ones  about  her.  and  never 
failed  to  commend  them  to  God  in  family  prayer,  night  and  morn 


82 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


ing.  She  was  gifted  with  a  fine  voice,  and  I  never  heard  her  sing 
anything  but  hymns.  Often  have  I  heard  my  mother  relate  thrilling 
stories  about  Indians,  panthers  and  wolves  that  came  stealthily 
around  the  solitary  dwellings,  their  approach  undiscovered  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  the  dense  canebrake,  until  their  gleaming  eyes  peering 
through  the  unchinked  walls  aroused  the  family  to  a  terrible  con¬ 
sciousness  of  danger.  But  never  did  they  seem  able  to  molest  the 
charmed  circle  within.  Indians  would  steal  the  horses  and  fly; 
wild  beasts  found  other  prey  and  departed. 

“At  the  time  that  my  grandfather,  with  his  four  brothers  and 
sister,  came  to  Kentucky,  many  families  traveled  together  for 
mutual  safety  and  protection  against  the  Indians,  whose  hunting- 
grounds  extended  to  the  border  settlements  of  Virginia.  On  their 
way  through  the  wilderness  they  encountered  bears,  buffaloes, 
wolves,  wild  cats,  and  sometimes  herds  of  deer.  Thus  they  moved 
cautiously  onward,  in  long  lines,  through  a  narrow  bridle-path  so 
encumbered  with  brush  and  undergrowth  as  to  impede  their  prog¬ 
ress  and  render  it  necessary  that  they  should  sometimes  encamp 
for  days  in  order  to  rest  their  weary  packhorses,  and  forage  for 
themselves.  A  space  of  country  that  can  now  be  leisurely  passed 
over  in  less  than  ten  days,  was  then  a  journey  of  many  weeks,  and 
sometimes  months.  I  have  heard  interesting  anecdotes  related 
connected  with  the  emigration  of  my  grandfather’s  family  through 
this  wilderness.  When  they  tarried,  even  for  a  day  or  night,  pickets 
were  thrown  out  and  every  pass  was  guarded  vigilantly,  lest  haply 
some  lurking  foe  might  invade  the  camp.  None  dared  to  speak 
aloud,  and  generally  the  horses’  feet  were  muffled  for  fear  of  at¬ 
tracting  attention.  No  camp-fires  were  lighted,  and  when  night 
dropped  her  dark  curtains  around  the  weary  travelers  some  rested 
or  slept  while  others  gazed  in  death  like  stillness  upon  the  sparkling 
firmament,  or  listened  to  the  music  of  streamlet  or  breeze,  occa¬ 
sionally  starting  at  the  rustling  of  a  leaf — anything  that  broke  the 
solemn  stillness  striking  terror  to  the  heart. 

“Once,  after  having  passed  over  many  miles  without  interrup¬ 
tion.  the  travelers  grew  careless,  and  scattered  groups  pursued 
their  way  without  apprehension.  One  family,  being  considerably 
in  advance,  was  entirely  separated  from  the  company.  Several 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


83 


hours  had  elapsed  without  one  of  them  being  seen  by  those  in  the 
rear.  Night  came  on;  the  stars  shone  in  full  glory,  shedding  a  hazy 
light  on  a  few  of  the  nearer  objects,  but  adding  to  the  dimness  and 
uncertainty  of  everything  beyond.  The  profound  silence  was  broken 
only  by  the  restlessness  of  the  tethered  horses,  or  the  low  murmur¬ 
ing  in  dreams  of  the  disturbed  sleepers.  So  intense  was  the  still¬ 
ness  that  an  imaginary  noise  more  than  once  startled  the  guards 
into  an  apprehension  of  a  night  attack,  deepening  the  ominous 
silence  and  quickening  the  light  step  of  the  sentinel  as  he  made 
his  lonely  round.  The  report  of  a  gun  was  heard,  and  then  another, 
followed  by  the  fierce  war-whoop  of  the  savage.  Some  of  the  young 
men,  dashing  rapidly  onward,  soon  reached  a  spot  where,  in  the 
gray  light  of  dawn,  a  scene  of  horror  presented  itself,  not  un¬ 
common  in  those  perilous  times.  A  party  of  Indians  had  come 
upon  the  family  stealthily,  and,  after  a  fierce  struggle,  had  fled 
precipitately  with  all  the  plunder  they  could  carry.  The  light- 
footed  mysterious  enemy  had  left  the  impress  of  his  hand  on  the 
dead  and  dying,  scattered  in  every  direction.  One  young  girl,  about 
fourteen,  had  been  scalped  and  left  for  dead  in  a  dee])  ravine.  She 
had  only  swooned,  and  her  brother,  after  the  fray  was  over,  seeing 
something  in  the  dim  distance  that  looked  like  an  animal,  creeping 
slowly  toward  them  through  the  bushes,  raised  his  gun  to  fire, 
when  he  saw  a  human  hand  uplifted  in  an  imploring  attitude.  In 
a  few  minutes  more  he  discovered  it  to  be  his  sister,  crawling  on 
her  hands  and  knees,  her  face  completely  covered  by  her  matted 
hair.  As  he  drew  near  she  threw  back  her  hair,  and  uttering  the 
word  ‘brother,’  fainted  in  his  arms.  She  had  been  scalped,  but  not 
deeply  wounded,  and  her  only  permanent  loss  was  a  portion  of  the 
skin  of  her  head,  rudely  torn  off  by  the  firm  grasp  of  an  Indian. 
This  young  girl  lived  to  reach  Kentucky,  grew  up  into  womanhood, 
married,  and  became  the  mother  of  a  number  of  sons  and  daughters 
— a  proof  that  scalping  does  not  necessarily  produce  death. 

“One  circumstance,  often  related  to  me,  forcibly  illustrates 
the  keen  instinct  of  the  panther.  My  grandfather  had  been  out  on 
a  hunt  for  many  days.  Weary  eyes  and  anxious  hearts  were  watch¬ 
ing  and  waiting  his  return.  It  was  midsummer,  and  the  tall 
cane,  with  its  gracefully  waving  leaves,  excluded  the  view  of  every 


84 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


object  not  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  lonely  and  scattered 
dwellings.  About  sunset  one  lovely  afternoon  my  grandmother, 
with  her  faithful  handmaiden,  ‘Mourning,’  set  out  to  fetch  some 
water  from  the  spring  which,  though  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
house,  was  hidden  from  sight.  Always  in  fear  of  ambushed 
savages,  they  were  walking  slowly  along  when  startled  by  the  lost 
hunter’s  cry  of  ‘hoo-hoo!’  which  was  suppressed  at  intervals,  as  if 
listening  for  a  response  to  assure  him  that  he  was  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  home  and  loved  ones.  My  grandmother  answered,  as  she 
was  wont  to  do,  while  her  heart  thrilled  with  the  joyful  anticipa¬ 
tion  of  meeting  her  returning  husband.  ‘Hoo-hoo!’  in  a  loud  voice 
was  again  heard  and  responded  to,  each  time  seeming  nearer  and 
more  distinct;  when,  just  as  they  emerged  from  the  thicket  and 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  shelving  rock  that  over-arched  the  spring, 
they  perceived  something  moving  among  the  bushes  above.  At 
first  they  supposed  it  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  raccoon  or  an  opos¬ 
sum,  but  it  proved  to  be  a  panther.  This  animal,  when  stimulated 
by  hunger,  would  assail  whatever  would  provide  him  with  a  ban¬ 
quet  of  blood.  Lo!  there  he  stood  on  the  rock  high  above  the  spring, 
squatting  on  his  hind  legs  in  the  attitude  of  preparing  to  leap — his 
glaring  eyeballs  fierce  with  expectation.  His  gray  coat,  fiery  eyes, 
and  the  cry  whiqh  he  at  that  moment  uttered,  rendered  by  its  re¬ 
semblance  to  the  human  voice  peculiarly  terrific,  denoted  him  to  be 
the  most  ferocious  of  his  detested  kind.  My  grandmother,  whose 
presence  of  mind  never  forsook  her,  even  under  the  most  appalling 
circumstances,  retreated  slowly,  keeping  her  eyes  steadily  fixed 
on  the  eyes  of  the  monster,  which  seemed  momentarily  paralyzed  by 
her  gaze,  until  she  and  the  negro  girl  could  turn  by  a  sudden  angle 
into  the  woods,  when,  adding  ‘wings  to  their  speed,’  they  soon 
reached  the  house  and  barred  the  doors  behind  them. 

“I  do  not  wish  to  give  the  impression  that  the  name  of  Bush  is 
entitled  to  any  patronymic  distinction,  or  that  any  branch  of  the 
family  claim  nobility;  nevertheless,  they  came  from  a  pure  and 
ancient  stock,  upon  whose  bright  escutcheon  no  stain  had  ever 
rested.  It  had  never  been  legally  disgraced,  and  never  forfeited  its 
claims  to  respect  and  consideration.  The  family  was  originally 
English,  and  the  tradition  among  them  is  that  the  founder  of  the 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


85 


American  branch,  John  Bush,  came  over  among  the  first  settlers 
of  Jamestown,  and  was  the  friend  and  companion  of  Captain  John 
Smith.  My  great-grandfather,  Philip  Bush,  possessed  a  large  landed 
estate.  His  eight  sons  and  four  daughters  were  matrimonially  con¬ 
nected  with  some  of  the  most  distinguished  families  in  the  ‘Old 
Dominion.’  My  grandfather,  Ambrose,  the  youngest  child,  save  one, 
married  a  Gholson,  a  family  from  whence  originated  statesmen  and 
orators.  My  great-uncle,  Captain  Billy  Bush,  came  to  Kentucky 
with  Daniel  Boone  on  his  second  trip.  He  was  fortunate  in  secur¬ 
ing  the  fairest  portion  of  the  land  in  Clark  county,  by  warrants  and 
otherwise,  extending  from  Winchester  to  Boonesboro’.  He 
gave  away,  or  sold  for  a  trifle,  farm  after  farm  to  his  friends  and 
relatives  that  they  might  be  induced  to  settle  near  him.  These 
seemed  so  well  satisfied  with  the  Goshen  of  their  choice  that  even 
their  descendants  had  no  disposition  to  emigrate,  nor,  indeed,  to 
enter  the  arena  of  public  life.  Thus  they  continued  their  pastoral 
and  farming  occupations,  ‘lengthening  their  cords  and  strengthen¬ 
ing  their  stakes,’  marrying  and  intermarrying  with  the  families  in 
the  vicinity  as  well  as  among  their  own  kindred,  until  the  rela¬ 
tionship  can  scarcely  be  traced  to  a  vanishing  point.  There  are 
the  Quisenberrys,  the  Vivions,  the  Elkins,  the  Gentrys,  the  Embrys, 
tin'  Bushes,  etc. — all  uncles,  aunts  or  cousins,  and  at  one  time  you 
might  travel  for  miles  without  being  out  of  the  favored  circle. 
When  I  can  first  recollect,  it  was  a  community  of  Baptists,  and  they 
all  worshiped  at  the  stone  meeting-house,  on  Howard’s  Creek. 
There  is  an  interest  attached  to  this  old  church  that  deserves  men¬ 
tion.  It  is  probably  the  first  Baptist  church  built  in  Kentucky, 
[It  is  the  first  of  any  kind.— A.  C.  Q.]  and  its  foundations  are  laid 
deep  and  strong,  though  not  large  and  wide.  A  community  of  Bap¬ 
tists  living  in  Virginia  determined  to  emigrate  to  Kentucky,  in 
1780.  The  ruling  elder,  Rev.  Mr.  Vinton  [Vivion],  was  their  leader. 
They  passed  through  much  tribulation,  and  finally  reached  their 
destination,  but  had  no  permanent  place  of  worship  until  the  stone 
church  was  erected  and  called  ‘Providence.’  Rev.  Robert  Elkin 
was  their  pastor  for  forty-two  years.  Among  the  most  prominent 
members  for  a  long  time  were  my  grandparents,  who  lived  to  see 
many  of  their  descendants  baptized  into  the  same  church.  I  visited 


86 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


the  neighborhood  in  1824,  and  found  attached  to  the  congregation 
thirteen  widow  Bushes.  During  the  past  year  (1864)  I  had  the  priv¬ 
ilege  of  entering  within  its  hallowed  walls  and  hearing  an  excellent 
sermon  from  a  Reformed-Baptist  minister.  The  Reformers  preach 
on  alternate  Sundays  with  the  old  Baptists,  and  the  two  congrega¬ 
tions  worship  together,  generally  without  any  disagreement.  The 
old  church  is  in  good  condition.  We  reach  it  through  a  lovely  blue- 
grass  region,  dotted  with  stately  mansions  and  rendered  attractive 
by  green  lawns  and  magnificent  old  sugar  trees,  through  whose 
foliage  the  sunlight  streaming  down  covers  the  ground  with  en¬ 
chanting  figures  of  light  and  shade.  The  rugged  hills  surrounding 
the  creek  present  a  striking  contrast  to  the  green  valleys  where 
summer  sleeps  upon  beds  of  roses.  Now  and  then  a  simple  cottage 
is  seen  sparkling  like  a  diamond  in  its  granite  cup;  or  on  the  top  of 
some  green  and  goodly  hill  a  dwelling,  white  and  fair,  gleaming 
through  depths  of  richest  verdure.  In  a  lovely  nook,  nestled  among 
the  rock-hills  of  the  creek,  stands  the  house  of  a  dear  old  relative 
[Roger  Quisenberry],  with  whose  family  I  was  privileged  to  spend 
a  few  hours  during  my  recent  visit — a  golden  link  in  the  chain  of 
reminiscences  binding  me  to  the  past.  What  a  tide  of  sweet  mem¬ 
ories  swept  over  me  as  I  listened  and  learned  again  the  oft-repeated 
histories  of  my  childhood’s  rosy  hours,  and  stood  once  more  in  the 
graveyard  where,  amid  crumbling  gravestones,  rested  the  bodies 
of  so  many  I  had  known  and  loved  in  early  life.  What  changes 
had  passed  over  Kentucky  since  my  grandparents  were  deposited 
in  that  quiet  resting-place!  Their  tomb-stones  are  hoary  with  age, 
and  crumbling  into  dust;  but  affection  keeps  the  spot  green  with 
fresh  memorials.  Flowers  bloom  in  loveliness  around  them.  The 
sweetbrier  sends  forth  its  fragrance  and  summer  roses  are  found 
there  gushing  with  dewy  sweetness. 

“Of  my  uncle,  Billy  Bush,  a  word  and  I  am  done  with  this  sub¬ 
ject,  rendered  somewhat  tedious  by  the  clinging  fondness  of  my 
own  recollections.  This  famous  old  Indian  fighter,  after  having 
suffered,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  settlers,  many  privations, 
and  having  endured  much,  found  himself  with  but  a  feAv  hundred 
acres  of  that  vast  domain  he  had  fought  to  defend.  He  had  munifi¬ 
cently  given  away  much,  and  was  probably  bereft  of  some  by  de- 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


87 


feetive  titles.  Hi*  spent  liis  latter  years  in  llie  visionary  pursuit  of 
silver  mines,  which  lie  never  found.  Like  the  mirage  of  the  desert 
they  eluded  his  grasp,  forever  and  forever  vanishing  as  the  spot  was 
in  ared.  The  glittering  prize  proved  ‘a  glorious  cheat,’  but  it  kept  up 
it s  delusions  until  (he  ‘silver-chord  was  loosened  and  the  golden 
howl  was  broken,’  and  the  pool*  old  man  found  a  resting  place  be¬ 
neath  Kentucky  soil,  with  many  oilier  patriarchs  of  the  infant 
State. 

*  *  *  “1  recollect  what  an  inexpressible  feeling  of  awe 

crept  over  my  childish  spirit  as  I  listened  to  the  veteran  pioneers 
teling  their  exploits  with  the  Indians  and  recounting  with  peculiar 
rest  their  perils,  their  bloody  struggles,  their  hairbreadth  escapes, 
and  their  victories.  The  whites  scarcely  ever  took  prisoners;  they 
considered  it  safer  to  dispatch  them  at  once  to  another  world.  My 
heart-bubbling  laughter  was  stilled  and  my  childish  sports  forgot¬ 
ten  as,  listening,  I  crept  nearer  to  my  grandmother’s  side.  *  *  * 

The  whole  State  of  Kentucky  was  then  a  perfect  jungle  of  beautiful 
luxuriance,  and.  to  the  admiring  eyes  of  the  new  settlers,  another 
Eden,  with  its  green  glories  of  canebrake  (which  in  some  places 
grew  twenty  feet  high)  and  forest,  crystal  streams  and  laughing- 
skies;  its  luxuriant  cornfields  and  bluegrass  woodland  pastures. 
No  wonder  our  good  old  preacher,  with  his  own  peculiar  quaintness, 
in  describing  Ihe  beauties  of  heaven  called  it  ‘a  fair  Kentucky  of  a 
place.’  To  the  early  settlers  of  Kentucky  it  appeared  a  fairy  land. 
Leaf-embowered  streams,  whose  laughing  waters  danced  over  pol¬ 
ished  pebbles  that  glittered  in  the  sunlight  like  diamonds;  hill  and 
dale,  mountain  and  glade,  varied  the  scene  to  the  charmed  eye 
of  the  huntsman,  as  lie  wandered  through  the  thick  forests  under  a 
canopy  of  softest  blue,  while  the  lofty  trees  sang  a  pleasant  melody 
at  the  bidding  of  the  balmy,  flower  laden  breeze.  No  wonder  that 
the  tales  of  the  past,  which  now  in  memory  dwell,  are  full  of  mys¬ 
tical  fancies,  arising  from  those  days  and  beautiful  solitudes 
where — 

‘All  (lie  Boundless  store  of  charms 

Which  nature  to  her  votary  yields. 

The  pomp  of  grove  and  garniture  of  fields.' — 

fills  the  heart  with  emotions  of  love  and  gratitude  to  that  great  and 
good  Being  who  created  this  earthly  paradise,  as  if  to  reflect  the 


88 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


glories  of  that  world  of  light  and  love,  where  silvery  vales  and  glit¬ 
tering  streams,  green  fields  and  budding  flowers  ‘forever  and  for¬ 
ever  rise.’ 

*  *  *  “In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  the  cotton- 

fields  in  Clark  county  yielded  enough  of  the  best  quality  of  cotton 
to  supply  the  wants  of  every  family;  and  while  tobacco  was  the 
staple  of  the  State,  rich  harvests  of  wheat,  extensive  corn-fields, 
and  every  variety  of  cereals  gladdened  the  happy  farmer  with  the 
consciousness  of  a  bountiful  provision  for  his  family.  Sugar  was 
made  in  abundance  from  the  maple,  whole  groves  of  which  were 
found  in  Kentucky  before  the  utilitarian  ax  of  the  woodman  laid 
them  prostrate  to  give  place  to  the  more  useful  bluegrass.  One  of 
these  grove  s,  on  my  grandfather’s  place,  contained  a  thousand  trees, 
many  of  which  are  still  standing  (1865).  The  sugar-making  time, 
in  February,  when  the  rich  sap  began  to  flow  abundantly,  was  a 
glorious  time,  and  long  looked  forward  to  with  as  much  delight 
as  Christmas.  A  regular  encampment  on  the  ground  made  a  pleas¬ 
ant  home  for  the  two  weeks  devoted  to  this  gypsy  life.  The  chil¬ 
dren,  including  the  little  negroes — and  there  were  swarms  of  them 
— to  use  their  own  word,  ‘toted’  sugar-water  in  their  tiny  pails  hour 
after  hour,  and  were  amply  rewarded  when  the  sugar  was  in  its 
transition  state  of  wavy  consistency,  with  as  much  as  they  could 
eat.  My  grandmother’s  sugar-chest  was  every  year  filled  with 
grained  maple  sugar,  whiter  and  purer  than  that  made  from  the 
cane,  while  a  great  quantity  was  put  up  in  cakes  for  eating — like 
candy,  and  as  much  molasses  was  reserved  as  would  abundantly 
supply  the  family  until  sugar-making  time  came  around  again. 

“And  now,  while  I  write,  I  can  see  the  camp-fires  lighted,  the 
dusky  figures  passing  and  repassing,  groups  of  happy  children 
laughing  and  shouting  as  they  bring  in  their  contributions  of  crys¬ 
tal  water  for  the  steaming  boilers.  I  almost  inhale  the  delicious 
breath  of  an  atmosphere  redolent  with  a  freshness  and  purity  never 
known  in  the  crowded  haunts  of  men.  I  have  counted  nearly  sixty 
years  since  those  days  of  unmingled  joyousness,  yet  still  the  mem¬ 
ory  of  that  time  is  green,  when  I  played  beneath  the  boughs  of  the 
lofty  maple  trees,  at  whose  roots  grew  the  fresh  moss,  clustered 
with  tiny  blue  flowers,  or  wandered  through  avenues  of  pawpaw 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


89 


bushes,  as  I  wended  my  way  from  my  father’s  house  to  the  dear  old 
grandfather’s  homestead.” 

Of  a  visit  she  paid  to  “The  Bush  Settlement,”  in  1824,  Mrs. 
Tevis,  in  a  subsequent  chapter  of  her  book,  says: 

“Most  of  the  old  landmarks  had  been  swept  away;  the  paw¬ 
paw  bushes  were  gone;  the  double  line  of  cherry  trees  that  formed 
an  avenue  from  my  grandfather’s  to  my  uncle  Gliolson’s  white  cot¬ 
tage  on  the  hill,  under  which  I  had  so  often  stood  holding  up  my 
little  check  apron  to  receive  the  clustering  cherries  thrown  down 
by  brothers  and  cousins,  were  no  longer  there.  *  *  *  There 

was  the  same  old  stile  to  cross  before  we  could  enter  the  yard,  even 
then  covered  with  a  living  green  as  soft  and  rich  as  in  midsummer. 
There  was  the  quaint  old  brick  house — the  first  brick  house  ever 
built  in  Kentucky — with  its  projecting  gables  and  its  ample  door 
standing  wide  open  to  welcome  the  coming  guest.  *  *  *  The 
next  day,  the  news  of  my  coming  being  spread  throughout  the 
neighborhood,  a  numerous  delegation  of  uncles,  aunts  and  cousins 
came  to  welcome  us  and  invite  us  to  partake  of  their  hospitality. 
The  family  tree,  transplanted  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  soil,  had 
lost  neither  beauty  nor  glory.  Its  branches  were  widespread  and 
flourishing,  and  from  its  roots  had  sprung  a  thousand  ramifica¬ 
tions,  whence  arose  many  a  roof-tree,  affording  shelter  and  protec¬ 
tion  to  wayworn  travelers  and  homeless  wmnderers.  *  *  *  My 
eyes  wandered  about  the  best  room  in  search  of  some  familiar  ob¬ 
jects.  The  same  old  clock  stood  in  the  corner  ticking  its  ‘ever,  for¬ 
ever,’  as  regularly  as  of  old,  and  near  by  the  little  square  table  with 
its  deep  drawer  in  which  my  grandmother  kept  the  cakes,  baked 
every  Saturday  afternoon  for  the  children  who  generally  came  with 
their  parents  to  dine  on  Sunday.  The  wide,  open  fireplace  brought 
to  mind  the  ‘yule  log,’  Christmas  fires  and  winter  cotton-picking. 

I  could  almost  see  the  little  woolly-headed  cotton-gins  of  olden 
times,  each  with  a  heap  of  cotton  before  him  from  which  to  separate 
the  seed,  and  sundry  little  grandchildren  plying  their  nimble  fingers 
in  the  same  manner,  grandmother  superintending  the  wThole — the 
click  of  her  knitting-needles,  meantime,  as  uninterrupted  as  the 
ticking  of  the  clock.  Our  tasks  done,  cakes,  nuts,  etc.,  wrere  di? 


90 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


tributed,  and  then  followed  a  game  of  romps,  which  my  grand 
father  enjoyed  as  much  as  the  children,  and  he  could  laugh  as  lorn? 
and  long  as  any  of  us.  *  *  *  I  recalled  old ‘Uncle  Billy  Bush,’ of 

Indian  memory,  who  lived  near  by,  and  frequently  formed  one  of  the 
merry  group,  chasing  us  about  the  room  with  his  cane.  How  we  aF 
loved  to  see  his  ruddy  face,  so  full  of  intelligence  and  good  humor, 
a  lurking  jest  eirer  in  his  eye,  and  a  smile  about  the  corners  of  his 
mouth,  with  a  voice  loud  enough  to  hail  a  ship  at  sea  without  the 
aid  of  a  speaking  trumpet!  It  was  wonderfully  rich,  too;  harmon¬ 
izing  admirably  with  his  blunt,  jovial  face;  and  this  warm,  rosy 
scene  generally  closed  with  an  exciting  Indian  story,  in  which 
Daniel  Boone  figured,  as  well  as  himself.  *  *  *  During  our 

stay  here  we  spent  one  charming  day  with  ‘Aunt  Frankey  Billy,’ 
the  widow  of  this  old  uncle,  so  called  to  distinguish  her  from  an¬ 
other  ‘Aunt  Frankey,’  and  noted  for  her  good  housewifery,  as  well 
as  her  boundless  hospitality.  Simple-hearted,  right-minded,  and 
pious  she  was  loved  by  all  who  knew  her.  So  free  from  selfishness, 
so  liberal,  so  everything  a  nice  old  lady  ought  to  be — what  a  pleas¬ 
ure  it  was  to  see  her  still  presiding  at  her  own  table,  abundantly 
spread  with  all  that  could  minister  to  the  most  delicate  taste  or 
satisfy  the  most  craving  hunger.” 

A  word  concerning  Mrs.  Julia  Tevis  herself.  Her  father’s 
patronymic  was  Hieronymus,  and  her  mother  was  the  daughter  of 
the  first  Ambrose  Bush.  Her  grandfather  Hieronymus  was  a  native 
of  Austria,  who  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Virginia  prior 
to  the  Revolutionary  War;  and  he  was  among  the  first  settlers  in 
Clark  county,  Kentucky.  Although  an  Austrian,  the  name  Hier¬ 
onymus  clearly  shows  that  he  was  of  Roman  or  Latin  descent. 
Hieronymus  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  numerous  Roman  Em¬ 
perors,  and  there  was  also  a  Roman  historian  of  the  same  name. 
Mrs.  Tevis’  grandfather  was  a  highly  educated  man,  and  spoke  all 
the  European  languages.  When  she  was  quite  young  her  father, 
Pendleton  Hieronymus,  moved  with  his  family  to  Virginia,  because 
of  the  superior  educational  advantages  of  that  State  at  that  time. 
He  settled  first  in  Winchester,  Va.,  but  subsequently  removed  to 
Georgetown,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  where  his  daughter  fin- 


THE  OLD  STONE  MEETING-HOUSE. 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


91 


islied  her  education  under  the  best  masters.  Here  she  saw  the 
burning  of  the  Capitol  by  the  British  in  1814.  She  continued  to  live 
in  Georgetown  until  1824,  and  met,  in  Washington  City,  the  most 
distinguished  men  and  mingled  with  the  most  polished  society  of 
the  times.  In  1824  she  was  married  to  Rev.  John  Tevis,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  and  a  minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 
In  1825  she  founded  in  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  the  “Science  Hill  Academy” 
for  young  women,  and  it  became  one  of  the  most  famous  schools  in 
the  country.  In  1875  she  celebrated  the  semi-centennial  of  this 
school.  Up  to  that  time  she  had  educated  more  than  three  thousand 
young  women,  and  some  of  her  first  graduates  attended  the  celebra¬ 
tion  and  brought  their  grandchildren  with  them.  Mrs.  Tevis  con¬ 
tinued  to  direct  this  school  until  her  death,  which  occurred  in  188J. 


THE  OLD  STONE  MEETING-HOUSE. 

No  account  of  the  Bush  family,  however  brief,  would  be  com¬ 
plete  without  some  acount  also  of  old  Providence  church,  which 
that  family  in  a  great  measure  founded,  and  which  th?y  have  largely 
nurtured  and  sustained  for  almost  one  hundred  and  twenty  years. 

The  records  of  the  church  go  back  continuously  to  December, 
1780,  when  the  congregation  was  residing  temporarily  at  Holston, 
Va. ;  but  the  church  had  existed  as  an  organized  body  prior  to  that 
time,  and,  according  to  tradition,  the  following  is,  in  substance,  its 
previous  history: 

Captain  Billy  Bush,  who  had  accompanied  Daniel  Boone  to 
Kentucky,  returned  to  his  home  in  Virginia  about  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1780,  and  he  gave  such  glowing  descriptions  of  the  new 
country  that  a  colony  of  about  forty  families,  living  in  Orange  and 
Culpeper  counties,  and  all  Baptists,  were  induced  to  start  in  the 
summer  of  that  year  for  Boonesboro’,  Ky.,  at  or  near  which 
place  they  determined  to  settle.  Captain  Billy  Bush  went  in  ad¬ 
vance  to  Boonesboro’  to  choose  and  locate  lands  in  that  vicinity 
for  each  of  these  families,  and,  sensible  man  that  he  was,  he  chose 
the  lands  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  in  what  is  now  Clark 
county.  The  others,  or  such  of  them  as  were  church  members,  or¬ 
ganized  themselves  into  a  Baptist  church,  but  the  name  of  the 


92 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


church  at  that  time,  if  it  had  one,  has  not  survived.  They  had  no 
regularly  ordained  pastor,  but  Elder  John  Yivion  acted  in  that 
capacity,  and  under  his  leadership  this  unique  church  colony  made 
ready  and  started,  and  proceeded  as  far  as  Holston  (now  Abingdon, 
Ya.),  which  is  near  the  line  between  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  arriv¬ 
ing  there  in  December,  1780.  On  their  tedious  march  through  the 
wilderness  to  this  point  they  had  held  divine  services  in  their  tem¬ 
porary  encampments  every  Sunday,  invariably  making  a  halt  for 
the  purpose  of  keeping  the  day  holy  and  engaging  in  divine  worship. 

At  Holston  they  received  advice  by  a  runner  from  Captain 
Billy  Bush,  who  was  then  in  the  fort  at  Boonesboro’,  warning 
them  not  to  proceed  any  further  for  the  time  being.  The  troubles 
with  the  Indians  at  that  time  rendered  it  impolitic  and  unwise  for 
them  to  proceed  into  Kentucky.  At  this  point  they  met  Rev.  Robert 
Elkin,  a  regularly  ordained  Baptist  minister  “from  the  older  parts 
of  Virginia,”  who  was  also  on  his  way  to  Kentucky,  with  his  family, 
and  choosing  him  as  their  pastor  they  at  once  (December,  1780)  re¬ 
organized  the  church,  and  the  minute  records  of  its  history  are  com¬ 
plete  from  that  time  to  this.  At  that  time  the  Baptist  fraternity 
was  divided  into  two  factions,  known  severally  as  “Regulars”  and 
“Separatists,”  and  this  church  was  of  the  Separatist  faction. 
Among  the  names  prominently  mentioned  in  the  reorganization 
proceedings  are  those  of  Rev.  Robert  Elkin,  pastor;  John  Vivion, 
elder;  Philip  Bush,  clerk;  Ambrose  Bush,  Lucy  Bush,  William  Bush, 
Frances  Bush,  John  Bush,  Robin  Richards,  Mary  Richards,  Daniei 
Ramey,  Philip  Johnson,  William  Fletcher,  John  Vivion,  jr.,  Benja¬ 
min  Johnston,  Mary  Johnston,  Thomas  Sutherland,  Joseph  Embry, 
Milly  Embry,  Mary  Harris  and  Mary  Clark.  There  were  forty-five 
members  in  all. 

This  body  remained  at  Holston  until  1783,  raising  three  crops 
there;  and,  the  colony  being  reinforced  by  numerous  accessions  of 
people  en  route  to  Kentucky,  they  then  moved  forward  to  Lewis 
Craig’s  Station,  on  Gilbert’s  creek,  in  Lincoln  county,  Kentucky, 
where  they  remained  until  November  12,  1785,  or  about  two  years. 
From  this  point  a  number  of  members  of  the  church  proceeded  to 
the  so-called  “Barrens”  of  Southwestern  Kentucky,  but  the  great 
majority  of  them,  in  1785,  removed  to  the  waters  of  Lower  How- 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


93 


ard’s  creek,  in  what  is  now  Clark  county,  and  occupied  the  lands 
that  had  been  located  for  them  by  Captain  Billy  Bush.  Their  first 
meeting  as  a  church  in  the  new  locality  is  quaintly  chronicled  in 
the  church  records  as  follows:  “Through  a  turn  of  God’s  provi¬ 
dence,  the  church  chiefly  moving  to  the  north  side  of  the  Kentucky 
river,  and  for  the  health  and  prosperity  of  Zion,  we  have  appointed 
a  church  meeting  at  Bro.  William  Bush's  house  for  November  27, 
1785.” 

At  that  meeting  new  officers  were  elected,  and  the  organization 
was  named  “Howard’s  Creek  Church,”  and  for  about  two  years  the 
meetings  were  held  in  the  houses  of  the  members.  The  first  house  of 
worship  erected  was  a  log  structure,  built  in  1787  on  a  lot  given 
for  that  purpose  by  Francis  Bush  and  Robin  Richards,  his  brother- 
in-law.  This  log  church  was  provided  with  loop-holes  through 
which  the  devout  pioneers  could  fire  their  trusty  flint-locks  at  In¬ 
dians  who  might  attempt  (and  they  sometimes  did)  to  interrupt 
the  devotions  with  hostile  demonstrations.  This  building  was  re¬ 
placed,  on  the  same  site,  by  the  famous  “old  stone  meeting-house,” 
which  was  finished  and  dedicated  to  God  in  May,  1799. 

Spencer’s  History  of  Kentucky  Baptists  says:  “In  1785  James 
Quisenberry,  an  ordained  minister  from  Virginia,  joined  Ibis 
church,  and  in  January  of  the  next  year  Andrew  Tribble,  also  a 
minister  from  the  same  State,  became  one  of  its  members.  About 
this  time  a  revival  began  in  the  church  and  continued  nearly  two 
years.  During  this  period  a  considerable  number  were  baptized,  of 
whom  were  Christopher  Harris,  Squire  Boone,  jr.  (nephew  of  Daniel 
Boone),  and  James  Haggard,  who  became  preachers.  In  1787  the 
church  entered  into  the  constitution  of  South  Kentucky  Associa¬ 
tion.  In  1790  another  revival  visited  the  church,  and  many  were 
baptized,  among  whom  was  Edward  Kindred,  who  became  a  good 
preacher.  The  church  had  now  become  quite  large.  But  during 
this  year  a  difficulty  between  Robert  Elkin  and  Andrew  Tribble 
caused  a  division  in  the  body.  By  the  advice  of  Elders  John  Bailey, 
Joseph  and  William  Bledsoe,  and  others,  the  Elkin  party  retained 
the  constitution,  but  changed  the  name  of  the  church  from  ‘How¬ 
ards  Creek’  to  ‘Providence,’  while  the  Tribble  party  was  constituted 
under  the  name  of  ‘Unity.’  The  two  churches  agreed  to  live  in  fel- 


94 


THE  BUSH  FAMILY. 


lowship.  Providence  continued  a  ‘Separatist’  cburcli  until  1801, 
when  the  terms  of  general  union  between  the  Regulars  and  Sepa¬ 
rates  were  ratified  at  its  house  of  worship.  After  that  it  be¬ 
longed  to  the  old  North  District  Confederacy  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  finally  united  with  the  Boone’s  Creek  Association,  litany  prom¬ 
inent  citizens  of  Clark  county  have  been  among  its  members,  and 
most  of  the  Bushes,  Haggards,  Quisenberrys  and  Elkins  in  the 
State,  and  multitudes  of  them  in  the  great  West,  are  descendants 
of  the  fathers  of  this  famous  old  church."  j 

In  1830  another  serious  difficulty  confronted  the  church.  Many 
of  its  members  then  united  with  the  sect  originated  by  Alexander 
Campbell  and  others,  then  known  as  Reformers  but  now  as  Dis¬ 
ciples  of  Christ,  or  Christians.  The  minutes  show  that  on  October 
2,  1830,  there  was  “a  motion  in  order  before  us  to  know  whether 
we  will  or  will  not  commune  with  members  of  the  Baptist  church 
who  call  themselves  Reformers.  The  church  says  she  will  not.’’ 
The  Baptists,  however,  permitted  the  withdrawing  members,  who 
organized  a  church  of  their  own,  to  use  the  church  building  on  alter¬ 
nate  Sundays  with  themselves,  and  this  continued  in  all  peace  and 
amity  until  1870,  when  the  Baptists  built  a  new  house  of  worship 
on  the  Boonesboro’  and  Winchester  turnpike,  a  mile  or  so  away, 
and  sold  the  old  stone  meeting-house  to  a  colored  Baptist  congre¬ 
gation,  who  still  occupy  it.  The  old  church  building  is  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation  and  bids  fair  to  easily  last  another  century 
or  two. 

In  1876  Mr.  Ambrose  G.  Bush  printed  in  the  Winchester  Demo¬ 
crat  a  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  old  Providence,  in  which  he 
stated  that  up  to  that  time  one  thousand  and  forty-six  members 
had  been  received  into  the  church  by  experience  and  baptism  and 
two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  by  letter — a  total  of  twelve  hundred 
and  seventy-three;  and  it  had  had  seventeen  pastors,  viz.:  Robert 
Elkin,  1780  to  1822;  Richard  Morton,  1822  to  1828;  George  Boone 

(a  nephew  of  Daniel  Boone),  1828  to  1833; - Elrod,  1833  to  1834; 

Abner  D.  Landrum,  1834  to  1838;  Thomas  German,  1838  to  1842; 
Buford  E.  Allen,  1842  to  1847;  Edward  Darnaby,  1847-1848;  with¬ 
out  a  pastor  for  some  months,  then  :  Buford  E.  Allen,  September  and 
October,  1849,  when  he  resigned  and  the  church  was  again  without 


THE  BUSH  FAMiLY. 


95 


a  pastor;  Buford  E.  Allen,  1851-1852;  Pleasant  T.  Gentry,  1852  to 
1855;  Buford  E.  Allen,  1855  to  1861;  Rvland  T.  Dillard,  1861  to 
1865;  Henry  McDonald  (a  converted  Roman  Catholic)  during  the  re 
mainder  of  1S65;  C.  E.  W.  Dobbs,  1866-1867;  W.  B.  Arvin,  1868  to 
1874;  G.  T.  Stansbury,  six  months  in  1874;  George  Yeiser  until 
March,  1875,  and  in  June,  1875,  A.  F.  Baker  became  the  pastor. 

The  churches  that  have  had  their  origin  from  old  Providence 
are  Unity,  in  1790;  Indian  Creek,  in  1792;  these  two  united  in  1845 
and  formed  Mt.  Olive;  Boggs’  Fork,  in  Fayette  county,  in  1812, 
which  was  afterwards  merged  into  Boone’s  Creek  church,  at 
Athens;  the  Baptist  church  at  Winchester,  in  1859;  and  the  Reform, 
or  Christian  church,  now  known  as  “Forest  Grove  Church,”  in  1830. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 

The  Chenaults  first  settled  in  America,  so  far  as  is  known, 
about  the  year  1700.  Key.  A.  C.  Graves,  in  his  biography  of  Rev. 
A.  W.  La  Rue,  says  that  the  La  Rues,  Chenaults,  and  others  named, 
came  from  France  to  Virginia  about  1685,  but  nothing  has  been 
found  to  indicate  that  the  Chenaults  came  so  early.  They  came 
from  the  southern  part  of  France — probably  from  the  vicinity  of 
the  city  of  Nismes  (or  Nimes)  in  the  province  of  Languedoc.  They 
were  Huguenots,  and  fled  from  the  cruel  persecutions  which  were 
inflicted  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  centuries  upon  all  dissenters  from  the  Catholic 
religion  in  France.  “The  Huguenots  were  the  followers  of  John 
Calvin,  the  leader  in  France  of  that  great  conflict  for  religious  tole¬ 
ration  now  several  centuries  old.  Although  the  spirit  of  religious 
freedom  began  to  be  heard  only  with  the  outbursting  flames  of 
the  Reformation  in  Germany,  the  principle  in  its  purity  had  been 
held  for  long  years  by  a  people  inhabiting  the  secluded  retreats  of 
Western  Europe.  D’Aubigne  says  the  Reformation  was  not  im¬ 
ported  to  France,  but  was  born  on  its  soil  before  Calvin  or  Luther 
began  to  preach.  That  mysterious  people,  the  Waldenses,  who  have 
so  strange  a  history  and  whose  deeds  are  the  savor  and  glory  of 
the  church,  had  nurtured  the  seed  of  this  reform  in  valleys  and 
mountains  through  that  blighting  winter  of  the  Dark  Ages.” 

It  was  in  Languedoc,  mainly,  that  the  Vaudois  and  the  Wal¬ 
denses  had  kept  up  an  unceasing  struggle  for  liberty  of  conscience 
and  a  pure  and  simple  religion,  from  the  days  of  Constantine  until 
the  times  of  Luther;  and,  although  forever  harassed  and  perse¬ 
cuted  for  conscience’s  sake,  they  never  gave  up  the  struggle  or 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


97 


denied  the  faith  that  was  within  them.  It  was  from  this  stock 
that  the  Chenaults  had  descended  for  many  centuries  before  per¬ 
secution  finally  drove  them  to  abandon  their  native  land  to  try 
their  fortunes  in  the  free  wildernesses  of  the  new  world. 

The  Chenaults,  together  with  some  two  hundred  other  Hu¬ 
guenot  families,  were  granted  by  the  Colonial  government  of  Vir¬ 
ginia  a  tract  of  land  at  Monildn-Town  (an  old  Indian  town)  in  what 
was  then  Powhattan  county,  now  Goochland  county.  From  this 
little  settlement  of  two  hundred  years  ago  has  sprung  some  of  tin* 
best  people  in  America;  and  such  old  Huguenot  names  as  D'Au- 
bigne  (Dabney),  La  Rue,  Le  Maire,  Le  Nair,  Maupin,  Mullin,  Dupuy, 
Chenault,  Calmes,  De  Jarnette,  Heine  (Rainey),  Colcasier,  Dozier, 
D'Etherage,  Lenoir,  Parmentier,  Janvier,  Xavier  (Sevier),  Flour¬ 
noy,  Grosvener,  and  many  others  not  now  recalled,  have  spread 
from  Monikin  Town  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  winning  honor 
and  respect  wherever  they  have  gone.  The  members  of  this 
colony,  as  the  records  show,  came  from  London  to  Virginia,  and 
had  probably  been  in  England  several  years  before  coming  to 
America. 

For  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  its  settlement  the  records 
of  Monikin-Town  were  kept  in  French,  and  some  of  these  interest¬ 
ing  documents  have  survived  the  ravages  of  time,  though,  unfor¬ 
tunately,  many  of  them  are  lost.  From  those  that  survive  it  is 
learned  that  the  first  Chenault  settlers  in  Virginia  were  “Estienne 
Clieneau  et  sa  femme"  (Stephen  Chenault  and  his  wife),  who  ar¬ 
rived  at  Monikin-Town  in  the  year  1700  on  the  ship  “Nemme  le 
Xasseau."  As  the  names  Clieneau  and  Chenault  are  almost  iden- 
itcal  in  pronunciation,  when  pronounced  in  French,  and  are  almost 
certainly  different  forms  of  the  same  name,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Stephen  Chenault  got  on  the  records  as  “Clieneau."  In  French, 
Chenault  is  pronounced  “Shen-ho,"  and  Clieneau  is  pronounced 
“She-no."  Chenault  means  “high  oak;"  Clieneau  means  “young- 
oak."  Some  of  the  varieties  of  the  present  spelling  and  pronun¬ 
ciation  of  the  name  in  the  United  States  are:  Chernault,  Shinault, 
Shinall,  and  Shindall. 

It  is  a  reasonable  presumption  that  from  this  Stephen  Che¬ 
nault  and  his  wife  have  descended  all  the  numerous  Chenaults 


98 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


scattered  throughout  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union.  Owing 
to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  public  records  in  Virginia  were 
destroyed  during  the  Civil  War  by  the  Federal  troops,  it  has  been 
impossible  to  follow  the  descent  of  the  family  consecutively  from 
1700  down  to  1775,  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  War.  The  records  of  the  War  Department  at  Washington 
show  that  at  least  four  of  the  name  served  in  that  war — James, 
Daniel,  William,  and  Benjamin.  The  latter  spelled  his  name 
“Sliinault,”  and  about  the  year  1830  he  settled  in  Surrey  county. 
North  Carolina. 

William  Chenault  was  the  first  of  the  name  to  settle  in  Ken¬ 
tucky.  Tradition  says  that  his  father,  Felix  Chenault,  was  the 
son  of  Hugo  Chenault,  who  was  himself  the  son  of  Estienne 
(Stephen)  Chenault,  the  pioneer.  The  wife  of  Felix  Chenault  was 
a  Miss  Dabney,  or  D’Aubigne,  of  Huguenot  descent.  William  Che¬ 
nault  was  born  in  1749,  and  he  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War 
in  Captain  Henry  Terrill’s  company  of  Colonel  Josiah  Parker’s  5th 
Virginia  regiment  of  the  Continental  Line,  and  spent  the  winter 
of  1777-’78  in  the  historic  camp  at  Valley  Forge.  He  was  with 
General  Washington  in  his  march  from  Valley  Forge,  in  1778,  in 
pursuit  of  the  British,  who  had  evacuated  Philadelphia  to  go 
across  New  Jersey  to  New  York  City;  and  he  had  fought  in  the 
battles  at  Stillwater  in  October,  1777,  preceding  the  surrender  of 
Burgoyne  at  Saratoga;  and  he  also  fought  in  the  battles  of  Bran¬ 
dywine  and  Germantown.  Boonesboro'  Chapter  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution,  at  Richmond,  Kentucky,  is  made  up 
almost  entirely  of  his  descendants.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution 
he  settled  temporarily  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  and  in  the 
fall  of  the  year  1786  he  moved  to  Madison  county,  Kentucky,  and 
his  descendants  in  that  county  and  State  constitute,  and  always 
have,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  families  in  the 
commonwealth.  He  settled  near  the  town  of  Richmond,  on  a 
farm  which  he  bought  from  Josiah  Phelps,  who  had  bought  it 
of  George  Boone,  the  brother  of  Daniel  Boone,  a  portion  of  which 
still  remains  in  the  possession  of  some  of  his  descendants,  and  on 
which  his  own  remains  and  those  of  his  wife,  and  of  his  son,  An¬ 
derson  Chenault,  his  grandson,  Colonel  Waller  Chenault,  and 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


99 


others  of  his  descendants,  are  now  buried.  He  was  married  in 
Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  in  1770,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Matthew  and  Mary  (Maupin)  Mullins.  William  Chenault  died  De¬ 
cember  30,  1813,  of  the  “cold  plague,”  and  his  wife  died  on  May 
4,  1816. 

On  his  arrival  in  Kentucky,  William  Chenault  united  with  the 
Tate's  Creek  Baptist  Church,  of  which  Andrew  Tribble  was  then 
the  pastor;  and  he  afterwards  became  a  member  of  the  Dreaming 
Creek  Baptist  Church,  of  which  Peter  Woods  was  the  pastor. 
The  Tate's  Creek  church  was  gathered  in  1786  by  Andrew  Tribble, 
its  first  pastor,  and  Mr.  Chenault  had  probably  been  a  member 
of  Mr.  Tribble’s  church  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  before  go¬ 
ing  to  Kentucky.  This  church  was  near  Monticello,  the  home  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  frequently  attended  its  meetings.  It  is 
stated  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Spencer,  in  his  “History  of  Kentucky  Bap¬ 
tists”  that  “the  Virginians,  and  especially  the  able  and  learned  R. 
C.  Howell,  assert  that  Mr.  Jefferson  conceived  the  idea  of  popular 
government  for  the  American  States  while  attending  the  little 
Baptist  church  of  which  Mr.  Tribble  was  the  pastor.”* 

William  Chenault  and  Elizabeth  Mullins,  his  wife,  had  eleven 
children — Garland,  Waller,  John,  David,  William,  Mary,  Jane, 
Elizabeth,  Sarah,  Nancy  and  Anderson.  1.  Garland,  2.  Waller 
and  3.  John  died  in  Virginia  in  infancy. 

4.  DAVID  CHENAULT— 

was  born  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  September  30,  1777.  He 
was  married  in  1793  to  Nancy  Tribble,  daughter  of  Rev.  Andrew 
Tribble.  Spencer’s  History  of  Kentucky  Baptists  says  of  him : 
“David  Chenault  was  the  third  pastor  of  Unity  Church.  His  fath¬ 
er,  William  Chenault,  was  of  French  extraction,  but  was  born  in 
Virginia,  and  was  a  soldier  under  Washington  during  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Revolution.  *  *  *  David  Chenault  joined  the  church  at 

Mt.  Nebo  about  1795  and  was  baptized  by  Peter  Woods.  His 
ministry  began  during  the  great  revival  of  1800-’03.  He  possessed 

*  Sparks’  “Life  of  Washington,”  page  155,  Vol.  XII,  says:  “The  Baptists  were 
among  the  earliest  friends  of  freedom  in  Virginia,  and  their  brave  straggle  for  lib¬ 
erty  of  conscience  had  much  to  do  with  the  birth  and  growth  of  revolutionary  sen¬ 
timent.  Washington  spoke  of  them  as  ‘Firm  friends  of  civil  liberty  and  the  perse¬ 
vering  promoters  of  our  glorious  revolution.’  ” 


100 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


only  a  common  school  education,  but  had  a  strong  native  intellect 
and  sound,  practical  judgment.  He  was  an  extensive  farmer,  and 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  1‘eace  for  about  twenty  years.  He 
was  a  successful  business  man  and  aeumulated  a  fortune  of  not 
less  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  was  an  active  pas¬ 
tor,  usually  serving  four  churches  for  more  than  fifty  years.  Be¬ 
sides  this,  he  preached  a  great  deal  in  the  mountains  of  Kentucky, 
even  down  to  old  age.  Among  the  churches  he  preached  to,  be¬ 
sides  Unity,  were  Cane  Spring,  Lulbegrud,  Log  Lick,  White  Oak 
Bond,  Mt.  Taber,  Stoner’s  Branch,  and  Union.  He  was  a  hyper- 
Calvinist  in  doctrine  and  very  uneven  in  his  religious  manifesta¬ 
tions.  Sometimes  his  zeal  amounted  to  a  burning  enthusiasm, 
and  at  others  he  was  dull  and  chillingly  frigid.  But  he  never 
swerved  from  the  path  of  conscientious  rectitude.  At  a  ripe  old 
age  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  May  9,  1851.” 

Rev.  David  Chenault  had  ten  children — Cabell,  Joyce,  Nancy, 
David,  Harvey,  William,  Tandy,  Sarah,  Waller,  Anderson,  and 
John. 

1.  Cabell  Chenault  was  born  July  25,  1795,  and  married 
Emily  Mitchell,  of  Newcastle,  Ivy.,  and  they  had  ten  children — 
Robert,  Nancy,  Elvenee,  Elizabeth,  Sal  lie,  David,  Cabell,  Anderson, 
Jeptha,  and  Harvey. 

1.  Robert  Chenault  married  Josephine  Prewitt  Cavins,  of 
Fayette  county,  in  1851,  and  the}r  had  five  children — John  Cabell, 
Thomas  A.,  David,  Daniel  M.,  and  W.  T.  Chenault.  In  1873  Robert 
Chenault  was  married  a  second  time,  this  wife  being  Sallie  Prewitt, 
of  Jessamine  county,  and  they  had  two  children,  Emily  and  Rob¬ 
ert  Earl.  He  was  a  farmer  and  never  asked  for  or  held  an  office. 
At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861  he  went  South,  and  joined 
the  Confederate  army.  He  died  in  March,  1881,  in  his  fifty-seventh 
year.  His  first  wife  died  in  November,  1872,  and  his  second  wife 
in  December,  1896.  Of  his  children,  John  Cabell  Chenault,  was 
born  April  21,  1855,  and  lived  on  the  farm  until  his  majority.  He 
began  business  as  a  country  merchant  in  1876,  but  abandoned 
it  the  same  year,  and  entered  the  law  department  of  Central  Uni¬ 
versity,  and  in  1878  was  admitted  to  the  Richmond  bar.  In  1881 
he  was  appointed  Police  Judge  of  Richmond,  and  was  elected  to 


THE  CHEN AULT  FAMILY. 


101 


the  two  succeeding  terms  of  the  same  office.  In  1884  he  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Madison  County  Court  and  was  re-elected 
to  the  same  position  in  1880  and  1890.  In  1895  he  was  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  nominee  for  Representative  in  the  Legislature,  but  was  de¬ 
feated.  In  1896,  on  account  of  his  intense  interest  in  bimetallism, 
he  bought  the  Richmond  Climax,  and  advocated  with  all  his 
might  the  election  of  William  J.  Bryan  to  the  Presidency.  He  will 
probably  be  the  next  Representative  in  Congress  from  his  district. 
He  was  married  in  1884  to  Miss  Eleanor  B.  Oldham,  descendant 
of  Captain  John  Oldham,  of  the  North  Carolina  line,  in  the  Revo¬ 
lutionary  War. 

Thomas  A.  Chenault  married  Mary  Duncan,  of  Madison  county, 
and  is  in  the  livery  business  in  Richmond. 

David  Chenault  married  Susie  Elmore,  of  Mercer  county,  and 
is  now  a  merchant  in  Richmond. 

Daniel  M.  Chenault,  a  lawyer,  of  Richmond,  married  Ida 
White,  of  Green  county,  who  died  in  1896,  leaving  him  two  chil¬ 
dren — Barnett  and  Josephine. 

W.  T.  Chenault  married  Minnie  Turner,  of  Shelby  county,  and 
is  now  doing  a  prosperous  dairy  business  in  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

Emma  Chenault  married  Eli  Bean  Evans,  of  Clark  county,  and 
they  live  near  Richmond. 

Robert  Earl  Chenault  graduated  at  Jessamine  Institute  in 
1896,  and  resides  with  her  brother,  D.  M.  Chenault,  in  Richmond. 

2.  Nancy  Chenault  married  John  Huguely,  of  Madison 
county,  and  they  removed  to  Boyle  county.  Both  are  now  de¬ 
ceased.  They  left  three  children — John  A.  Huguely,  who  mar¬ 
ried  Miss  Cromwell,  of  Lexington,  Ivy.;  Cabell  Huguely,  who  mar¬ 
ried  Miss  Roberts,  of  Boyle  county;  and  Jacob  Huguely,  who  mar¬ 
ried  Miss  Robinson,  of  the  same  county. 

J.  Elvenee  Chenault  married  William  Shearer,  of  Madison 
county.  Both  are  deceased.  They  left  two  children — Nannie 
Shearer,  who  married  O.  T.  Wallace,  of  Garrard  county,  and  Ann 
Shearer,  who  married  James  Burnsides,  of  the  same  county. 

4,  5.  Elizabeth  and  Sallie  Chenault  both  died  while  very 
young. 

6.  David  Chenault  married  Mary  Bullock,  of  Illinois,  in  1865, 
and  they  have  three  children — Cabell,  Bessie  and  Charles.  He 


102 


THE  CHEN AULT  FAMILY. 


served  in  Col.  D.  W.  Chenanlt's  regiment  during  the  war,  and  was 
taken  prisoner  on  the  Ohio  raid,  and  confined  in  Camp  Douglas, 
from  which  prison  he  made  his  escape  but  was  recaptured.  His 
son  Cabell  is  teller  of  the  Second  National  Bank,  in  Richmond. 
Bessie  married  James  Elmore,  of  Mercer  county,  and  they  now 
live  at  Point  Leavell,  Garrard  county.  Charles,  who  is  still  young, 
resides  with  his  father,  and  is  a  bright,  promising  boy. 

7.  Cabell  Clienault  entered  the  Confederate  army  in  1862 
and  died  at  Monticello,  Kentucky,  while  in  the  service.  It  is  said 
of  him  that  he  was  a  brave  soldier  and  a  very  handsome  man. 

8.  Anderson  Clienault  also  entered  the  Confederate  service 
in  1862,  at  the  age  of  19,  and  was  captured  on  the  Ohio  raid.  He 
escaped  from  Camp  Douglas  with  his  brother  David,  but  was  re¬ 
captured  in  Kentucky  and  tried  in  Louisville  as  a  Rebel  spi7;  but 
on  account  of  his  youth,  and  through  the  assistance  of  men  who 
were  willing  to  swear  falsely,  Burbridge  was  cheated  out  of  a 
victim.  He  made  a  fine  fortune  at  farming  and  stock  trading  in 
Madison  county  after  the  war.  He  married  in  1866  Miss  Bettie 
Fogg,  of  Woodford  county,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  only 
four  of  whom  survive  him.  His  daughter  Agnes  married  C.  P. 
Goff,  of  Clark  county,  and  died  in  1895.  The  living  children,  Jep- 
tha,  Emily,  Elijah  A.  and  C.  F.  Clienault,  reside  with  their  mother 
in  Madison  county.  Anderson  Clienault  died  in  April,  1896, 
aged  51  years.  No  truer  friend,  better  citizen  or  grander  man  ever 
lived  in  any  community. 

9.  Jeptha  Clienault  married  Louvenia  Estill,  of  Madison 
county,  in  1874,  and  they  had  one  child,  Estill  C.  Chenault,  who 
married  Brutus  J.  Clay,  of  Bourbon  county,  where  they  live.  Jep¬ 
tha  Chenault  died  in  1876. 

II.’.  Harvey  Chenault,  the  youngest  child  of  Cabell  Chenault 
and  Emily  Mitchell,  his  wife,  has  never  married.  He  lives  in 
Madison  county,  where  he  is  a  successful  farmer  and  stock  trader. 

2.  Joyce  Chenault  married  Captain  James  Munday. 

3.  David  Chenault  married  Louisa  Quisenberry.  (See  Chapter 
VII). 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


103 


4.  Harvey  Chenault  was  born  September  29,  1802,  and  died 
September  18,  1843.  He  was  married  on  March  30,  182G,  to  Ann 
McCord  Douglass,  who  was  born  July  24,  1810,  and  died  October 
25,  1891.  Their  children  were  David  Chenault,  born  December 
31,  1827,  died  March  15,  1869,  married  Pattie  Tribble,  daughter  of 
Dudley  Tribble,  of  Madison  county. 

Eliza  Jane  Chenault,  born  February  9,  1830;  died  August  30, 
1834. 

William  Chenault,  born  July  3,  1832;  died  September  23,  1854. 

Matilda  Chenault,  born  June  12,  1835;  died  February  24,  1884. 
She  married  John  R.  Rlackwell. 

Harvey  Chenault,  born  January  28,  1838;  died  December  25. 
1858. 

Thomas  Douglass  Chenault,  born  November  28,  1840;  married 
Carlisle  Chenault,  and  they  have  several  children.  He  has  long  been 
the  wealthiest  man  in  Madison  county  and  one  of  the  wealthiest 
in  Kentucky. 

John  Chenault,  born  December  12,  1842;  died  September  25. 
1843. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  article  published  in  the 
papers  in  1843,  when  Harvey  Chenault  died,  viz: 

“Died,  in  this  county,  on  the  18th  of  September,  Mr.  Harvey 
Chenault,  son  of  the  Rev.  David  Chenault.  In  the  death  of  Mr. 
Chenault  society  has  lost  a  valuable  member  and  the  county  an 
esteemed  citizen;  and  to  his  family  and  friends  the  deprivation  is 
irreparable.  He  was  remarkable  in  all  his  dealings  for  his 
straightforward  integrity  and  nice  sense  of  honor  and  justice.  As 
a  husband,  father,  neighbor,  and  master — in  whatever  phase  his 
character  was  seen — the  deceased  was  irreproachable.  Of  a  hos¬ 
pitable  disposition  and  charitable  in  his  nature,  none  worthy  ever 
turned  from  his  door  hungry  or  unsatisfied;  but  from  his  ample 
means  the  needy  and  distressed  were  liberally  supplied.  The 
afflictive  dispensation  of  Providence  that  terminated  so  prema¬ 
turely  his  earthly  career  he  bore  with  fortitude  and  resignation, 
becoming  a  Christian,  although  he  had  never  attached  himself  to 
any  church.  For  some  time  before  his  dissolution  his  mind  was 


104 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


evidently  composed,  li is  countenance  being  serene,  and  shadowing 
forth  the  thoughts  thus  beautifully  expressed  by  the  poet: 


“  ‘Jesus  can  make  a  dying  bed 
Feel  soft  as  downy  pillows  are; 

While  on  his  breast  I  lean  my  head, 

And  breathe  my  life  out  sweetly  there.'  ” 


5.  Sallie  Chenault,  born  November  13,  1804;  married  Duke 
Simpson. 

6.  William  Tandy  Chenault,  born  February  IT,  1807,  married 
Virginia  Quisenberry,  daughter  of  Joel  Quisenberry,  of  Clark 
county,  and  they  had  eight  children,  as  follows:  Joel  Quisenberry 
Chenault,  who  married  Elizabeth  Gay;  David  Waller  Chenault, 
who  married  Emma  Reed;  Nancy  Chenault,  who  married  William 
Bridgeforth;  B.  F.  Chenault,  who  married  Belle  Anderson;  John 
Wesley  Chenault,  who  married  Bettie  Robinson;  Annie  Chenault, 
who  married  George  T.  Fox,  of  Madison  county,  and  William  Tan¬ 
dy  Chenault.  The  father  of  this  family  settled  in  Montgomery 
county,  Kv. 

7.  Waller  Chenault,  born  April  21,  1809;  married  Berlinda 
McRoberts.  Died  in  1843,  without  children. 

8.  Anderson  Chenault,  born  January  8,  1812;  died  - . 

Married  Margaret  K.  Oldham,  of  Madison  county,  and  they  set¬ 
tled  in  Montgomery  county.  They  had  seven  children,  as  follows: 
Nancy  Chenault,  who  married  Judge  John  T.  Woodford;  W.  O. 
Chenault,  who  married  Arabella  Morse;  Waller  Chenault,  unmar¬ 
ried;  Anderson  Chenault,  unmarried;  Mollie  W.  Chenault,  who 
married  S.  Bogie;  Margaret  P.  Chenault,  who  married  William 
Graham  Dealing,  and  Lucy  K.  Chenault,  who  married  Bishop 
Clay,  of  Lexington,  Kv. 

This  family  now  possesses  the  old  family  Bible  and  family 
record  of  Rev.  David  Chenault,  and  they  also  possess  a  Bible  which 
certainly  belonged  to  William  Chenault,  the  pioneer,  and  possibly 
was  the  property  at  one  time  of  his  great-grandfather,  Estienne 
Chenault.  It  is  an  English  black-letter  Bible,  printed  in  London 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


105 


in  1698  “by  Charles  Bell  and  the  Executrix  of  Thomas  Newcomb, 
deceased,  printers  to  the  King’s  Most  Excellent  Majesty,”  and 
translated  by  John  Canne.  Unfortunately,  it  contains  no  family 
record.  The  only  writing  in  it  is  on  one  of  the  blank  pages,  and 
refers  to  the  dimensions  and  population  of  “the  great  city,”  refer¬ 
ring  doubtless  to  London.  Estienne  Chenault  probably  bought 
this  Bible  in  London  before  he  sailed  thence  in  1700  for  Virginia. 

9.  John  Chenault,  born  December  16,  1815;  died  in  1813,  un¬ 
married. 

10.  Nancy  Chenault,  born  July  27,  1810;  married  Alexander 
Tribble,  of  Madison  county,  son  of  Rev.  Andrew  Tribble.  Issue. 

5.  WILLIAM  CHENAULT— 

Was  born  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  in  1773.  He  married 
Susannah  Phelps,  of  Madison  county,  Ivy.,  daughter  of  Josiah 
Phelps,  who  received  a  pension  on  account  of  his  services  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  among  which  was  a  participation  in  the  cam¬ 
paign  with  George  Rogers  Clark  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 

William  Chenault  served  in  the  lower  house  of  the  Kentucky 
Legislature  in  1822  and  he  died  in  1844.  He  had  seven  children — 
Waller,  Nancy,  William,  Josiah  Phelps,  Elizabeth,  Susan  P.,  and 
David  A. 

1.  Waller  Chenault  served  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature  in 
1848.  He  was  a  very  successful  business  man,  and  was  in  every 
way  one  of  the  finest  men  and  best  citizens  that  ever  lived  in 
Kentucky.  He  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  He  married  Talitha 
Harris,  and  his  children  were:  William  <>.  Chenault,  who  married 
Caledonia  Miller;  Elizabeth  Chenault,  who  married  Joseph  Blink¬ 
er;  Joseph  Chenault,  who  was  captain  in  Colonel  D.  Waller  Che- 
nault's  regiment  of  Confederate  cavalry,  and  was  killed  at  Horse 
Shoe  Bend  in  1863,  unmarried;  Susannah  Chenault,  who  married 
William  Miller,  the  brother  of  Caledonia  Miller,  who  married  Wil¬ 
liam  O.  Chenault;  Carlisle  Chenault,  who  married  Thomas  Dou¬ 
glass  Chenault;  Christopher  D.  Chenault,  who  married,  first,  Flor¬ 
ence  Dillingham,  second,  Sallie  Gibson  Humphries,  of  Woodford 
county,  a  descendant  of  Colonel  Nathaniel  Hart,  one  of  the  most 


106 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


distinguished  of  the  Kentucky  pioneers;  Waller  Ohenault,  who 
died  childless,  and  who  was  one  of  the  physicians  in  charge  of  the 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  at  Anchorage,  Ivy.;  Nancy,  who  married 
Dr.  George  W.  Evans,  a  son  of  Dr.  Peter  Evans  and  Letitia  Quis- 
enberry  (daughter  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry),  his  wife;  Overton 
Harris  Clienault,  who  married  Lida  McCann;  Laura  Chenault. 
who  married  P.  H.  Eastin,  of  Fayette  county;  Ella  Chenault,  who 
married  William  I).  Watts,  of  Fayette  county,  the  grandson  of 
Joel  Quisenberry  and  great-grandson  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry, 
and  David  A.  Chenault,  who  married  Bettie  Bronston. 

2.  Nancy  Chenault  first  married  Samuel  Taylor,  and  had  one 
child,  Susan  Ann  Taylor,  who  married  James  A.  Harris.  Her 
second  husband  was  Colonel  Reuben  Monday,  of  Madison  county, 
by  whom  she  had  one  child,  Mary  E.  Monday,  who  married  Dr. 
George  W.  Bronaugli.  Reuben  Monday  was  Colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  Kentucky  Union  cavalry  during  the  Civil  war. 

3.  William  Chenault  was  never  married  and  became  very 
wealthy.  He  served  in  the  lower  house  of  the  Kentucky  Legisla¬ 
ture  in  1840;  in  the  Senate  from  1840  to  1846;  was  a  member  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1849  and  a  Presidential  elector 
the  same  year,  voting  for  Zachary  Taylor  for  President. 

4.  Josiah  Phelps  Chenault  married  Narcissa  Oldham,  great- 
granddaughter  of  John  Oldham,  of  Caswell  county,  North  Caroli¬ 
na.  who  was  a  captain  of  North  Carolina  troops  in  the  Revolution¬ 
ary  war.  Their  children  were:  Ulysses  O.  Chenault,  who  died  un¬ 
married;  William  Chenault,  who  married  Anna  Givens,  of  Lin¬ 
coln  county,  Ivy.,  the  great-granddaughter  of  Captain  John  Pax¬ 
ton,  of  Rockbridge  county,  Va.,  who  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Guilford  on  March  15,  1782.  William  Chenault,  who  is  recognized 
as  one  of  the  first  lawyers  in  Kentucky,  has  been  Judge  of  the 
Madison  County  Court  and  Commissioner  of  the  Railroad  Fund 
of  the  same  county.  In  1880  he  accepted  the  position  of  Professor 
of  Common  Law  Equity  and  Pleading  in  the  University  of  Louis¬ 
ville,  which  he  held  until  1885,  in  the  meantime  being  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  famous  Filson  Club,  of  Louisville.  In  1885  he 
went  to  Kansas  where  he  practiced  law  and  held  positions  of  honor 
and  trust;  and  in  1893  he  returned  to  Richmond,  Ky.,  where  he 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


10T 

lias  since  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law.  Abner  Oldham 
Chenault,  third  son  of  Josiah  Phelps  Chenault,  married  first  a 
Miss  Reynolds,  and  second  Lillie  Thompson;  Jason  W.  Chenault,* 
a  distinguished  educator  and  college  professor,  married  Ellen 
Thomson,  daughter  of  Sanford  Thomson,  of  Clark  county.  He 
died  suddenly  in  December,  1896.  Susan  Ann  Chenault,  who  mar¬ 
ried  James  Miller;  Lavinia  O.  Chenault,  who  married  Dr.  Thomas 
B.  Montgomery;  Reuben  M.  Chenault,  who  married  a  Miss  Lips¬ 
comb;  Helen  Chenault;  David  Chenault,  deceased;  Annie  Che¬ 
nault,  deceased;  Mary  Chenault,  deceased;  Robert  D.  Chenault, 
deceased,  and  Josiah  1’.  Chenault,  who  married  Ellen  Lowe. 


*  The  Louisville  Commercial  pays  I'rof.  Jason  W.  Chenault,  deceased,  this  high 
tribute,  which  will  be  read  with  p.easure  by  all  who  knew  and  loved  him: 

“Great  teachers  are  rare.  The  power  to  impart  knowledge  is  not  unusual  with 
men  of  education.  But  to  awaken,  arouse,  and  transmute  into  action  the  moral  and 
intellectual  forces  of  a  pupil:  to  infuse  that  living  quality,  character,  ennobling  one’s 
life  and  expanding  a  hundred  fold  one's  capacity  for  usefulness— this  is  the  genius 
of  a  great  teacher. 

“On  last  Tuesday  morning  there  passed  suddenly  away  from  our  midst  a  great 
educator,  a  man  rarely  endowed  with  the  gift  of  teaching.  A  graduate  of  Centre 
College,  completing  a  post-graduate  course  in  philosophy  and  metaphysics  at  Harvard, 
he  returned  to  Kentucky  and  labored  for  many  years,  first  as  Professor  of  Latin  and 
Greek  at  Centre  College,  later  as  Pr.ncipal  of  the  Louisville  High  School,  and  finally 
as  Principal  of  the  University  School  in  this  city.  In  each  sphere  he  exerted  a  power¬ 
ful  influence  for  the  higher  education  and  learning. 

“A  master  of  the  classics,  he  made  the  dead  languages  luminous  with  truth  and 
beauty.  A  profound  scholar  in  all  philosophy,  it  was  in  ethics,  in  its  practical  applica¬ 
tion  to  human  conduct,  that  he  particularly  excelled.  His  power  of  analysis  and  ex¬ 
pression  in  making  plain  the  great  principles  and  underlying  problems  and  subjects  of 
thought  were  marvelous. 

“His  pupils,  and  indeed  many  who  came  only  in  casual  contact  with  him,  will  re¬ 
call  often  a  sympathetic  talk,  from  which  one  came  away  with  entirely  a  new  idea 
of  his  own  life.  He  seemed  to  comprehend  intuitively  the  woes  of  those  around  him, 
and  with  his  ready  enthusiasm,  intelligent  and  large  hearted,  imbued  one  with  a  new 
spirit  for  work  and  duty. 

“He  was  more  than  a  brilliant  conversationalist.  There  was  a  splendid  power 
about  the  man  when  he  talked  that  aroused  to  t lie  quick  the  intellectual  and  moral 
faculties,  and  was  the  secret  of  his  success  as  a  teacher. 

"Many  will  remember  the  ardor  and  magnetic  earnestness  with  which  he  taught, 
for  ho  gave  himself  abundantly  and  unsparingly  to  his  work,  and  those  ‘informal’ 
talks  to  his  classes,  full  of  wisdom  and  suggestion,  will  always  remain  an  ennobling 
experience  with  those  who  were  privileged  to  hear  them.  The  famous  Dr.  Arnold, 
head  master  at  Rugby,  and  the  large-minded  Mark  Hopkins,  at  'Williams  College,  left 
an  impress  upon  their  age,  deep,  abiding  and  far-reaching,  by  the  large  seriousness  in 
respect  to  life  and  its  duties  which  they  instilled  into  their  students  by  the  power  of 
their  personal  influence.  And  there  are  those  fortunate  enough  to  come  within  the 
range  of  Dr.  Chenault’s  influence,  who  long  ago  have  recognized  in  his  intellectual  and 
moral  menlorship  that  genius  for  teaching,  and  (hat  strenuous,  heroic  effort  to  develop 
all  that  the  pupil  was  capable  of,  that  suffered  not  a  whit  by  comparison  with  the 
qualities  that  made  Arnold  and  Hopkins  great.’’ 


1 08 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


5.  Elizabeth  Chenault,  who  married  Samuel  Bennett,  son  of 
Rev.  John  Bennett,  a  pioneer  Methodist  minister  in  Madison 
county.  The  first  Methodist  church  in  the  county  was  called 
“Bennett’s  Chapel,”  in  his  honor,  but  the  name  was  afterwards 
changed  to  “Proctor's  Chapel,”  and  it  is  now  called  “Providence 
Church.”  The  children  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Bennett  were: 
William  Bennett,  who  married  Annie  Neale;  John  Bennett,  un¬ 
married,  who  has  served  in  the  Kentucky  Senate,  and  is  a  lawyer 
of  distinction;  James  Bennett,  who  married  Sallie  Clay,  daughter 
of  General  Cassius  M.  Clay,  formerly  United  States  Minister  to 
Russia;  Dr.  David  Bennett,  of  Lexington,  Ky. ;  Sue  A.  Bennett,  de¬ 
ceased,  wlio  endowed  the  “Sue  A.  Bennett  Memorial  School,”  of 
London,  Ky. ;  Waller  Bennett,  who  married  Mary  C.  Burnam;  Belle 
II.  Bennett,  who  was  largely  instrumental  in  endowing  the  Scar¬ 
lett  Training  School,  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and  Samuel  Bennett, 
who  married  Mary  Warfield,  of  Lexington,  Ky. 

G.  Susan  P.  Chenault,  who  married  David  D.  Oldham,  and 
had  the  following  children:  Annie  Oldham,  who  married  Caleb 
M.  Wallace,  and  William  Abner  Oldham,  who  married  a  Miss 
Evans. 

7.  David  A.  Chenault,  who  married  Sallie  Ann  Smith,  and 
died  childless.  He  made  a  donation  of  twenty  thousand  dollars 
to  the  Baptist  Theological  School  at  Louisville,  Ky 

6.  MARY  CHENAULT— 

Married  Thomas  Todd,  of  Madison  county,  and  they  moved  to 
Calloway  county,  Mo.,  and  settled.  Issue. 

7.  JANE  CHENAULT— 

Married  Josiali  Jones,  and  lived  and  died  in  Madison  county.  Issue. 

8.  ELIZABETH  CHENAULT— 

Married  Christopher  Hardwick,  of  Henry  county,  Ky.,  and  died 
in  that  county.  Issue. 


9.  SARAH  CHENAULT— 

Married  John  Sarnuells,  of  Henry  county,  Ky.,  and  died  without 


issue. 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


109 


10.  NANCY  CHENAULT— 

Married  Thomas  Brown,  of  Henry  county.  Died  in  1854,  leaving 
ten  children. 

11.  ANDERSON  CHENAULT— 

Youngest  son  of  William  Clienault  and  Elizabeth  Mullins,  his 
wife,  was  born  in  Madison  county,  Virginia  (now  Madison  county, 
Kentucky),  on  August  18,  1788,  and  died  there  November  5,  1854. 
He  married  first,  in  Henry  county,  Kentucky,  Emily  Cameron,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Robert  Cameron 
and  Sarah  Tiffin,  his  wife.  Emily  Cameron  Chenault  was  born 
February  20,  1796,  and  died  duly  9,  1830,  after  having  borne  her 
husband  eight  children.  Anderson  Chenault’s  second  wife  was 
Mrs.  Talitha  Harris,  by  whom  In*  had  no  children.  His  children 
by  Emily  Cameron  were: 

1.  Elizabeth  Chenault,  born  November  13,  1810;  died  No¬ 
vember  25,  1831. 

2.  John  Samuells  Chenault,  born  November  20,  1818.  Never 
married. 

3.  Dr.  William  J.  Chenault,  born  July  27,  1820.  Educated  at 
the  Medical  College  of  Transylvania  University,  Lexington.  In 
1845,  he  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  the  Mexican  War,  serving  in 
Captain  J.  C.  Stone’s  company  of  Colonel  Humphrey  Marshall’s  1st 
Kentucky  Cavalry.  He  died  in  camp  near  Port  Lavacca,  Texas, 
April  17,  1840.  Lieutenant  Green  Clay  Smith,  writing  to  his  fath¬ 
er  from  Port  Lavacca,  under  date  of  April  20,  1840,  said:  ‘T 
grieve  to  announce  the  death  of  my  friend,  Dr.  William  Clienault. 
He  was  a  man  of  many  good  and  amiable  traits  of  character.  In 
his  friendship  he  was  frank  and  sincere;  as  a  soldier  he  was  firm 
and  decided;  in  his  social  intercourse  he  was  kind,  courteous  and 
bland.  Generous  almost  1o  a  fault,  he  would  divide  the  last  cent 
with  a  friend,  especially  those  of  his  own  company,  for  he  looked 
upon  them  all  as  brothers.  The  languid  eye  of  the  sick  turned 
to  him  with  hope  and  pleasure,  for  to  them  he  was  all  attention 
and  tenderness.  He  listened  to  their  complaints  and  soothed 
their  pain  with  the  gentleness  of  a  sister.  As  a  companion  he 
was  uncommonly  agreeable.  He  had  information  and  much  play- 


no 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


fill  wit.  He  was  beloved  by  bis  officers  and  fellow-soldiers  as 
such  a  man  deserved  to  be,  and  died  possessed  of  their  warmest 
friendship.  But  he  is  gone.  A  lone  tree  in  an  unbounded  prairie 
in  the  wilds  of  Texas  marks  the  spot  where  he  rests  ‘solitary  and 
alone/  relieved  from  all  worldly  trouble.  In  a  few  days,  as  we 
march  by,  we  shall  drop  a  tear  upon  the  grave  of  a  friend,  a  gen¬ 
tleman  and  a  soldier.” 

1.  Mary  Chenault  married  Elias  Burgin,  of  Madison  county, 
whom  she  survives,  and  by  whom  she  had  seven  children:  Eliza¬ 
beth.  Mary,  Lucy,  Nancy,  William  A.,  and  one  who  died  in  in¬ 
fancy.  Elizabeth  married  James  P.  White,  and  had  a  number 
of  daughters,  one  of  whom  married  Judge  Jerry  Sullivan,  of 
Richmond.  Lucy  married  Cassius  Taylor  and  William  A.  mar¬ 
ried  Joyce  Munday. 

5.  David  Waller  Chenault,  born  February  5,  1820,  married 
Tabitha  Phelps  (daughter  of  Samuel  and  grand  daughter  of  Josiah 
Phelps),  who  survives  him,  and  by  whom  he  had  no  children.  He 
served  through  the  Mexican  War  as  a  subaltern  in  Captain  J.  C. 
Stone's  company  of  Colonel  Humphrey  Marshall’s  1st  Regiment  of 
Kentucky  Volunteer  Cavalry,  in  which  capacity  he  displayed 
marked  military  talent  and  ability.  After  this  war  he  engaged  in 
farming,  in  which  business  he  prospered,  and  being  a  man  of 
many  engaging  and  noble  qualities  of  both  mind  and  heart,  as 
well  as  of  social  virtues  and  attractions,  he  soon  gained  a  pre¬ 
eminent  position  in  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens 
of  Madison  county.  Perhaps  no  more  popular  man  ever  lived  in 
the  county.  Though  often  importuned  to  stand  for  offices  of  trust 
and  profit,  to  which  he  could  undoubtedly  have  been  easily  elected, 
he  always  declined  to  do  so.  During  the  Confederate  General 
Bragg’s  occupation  of  Kentucky,  in  the  fall  of  1802,  David  Waller 
Chenault  sought  and  obtained  a  commission  as  Colonel  in  the 
volunteer  forces  of  Kentucky,  and  speedily  recruited  a  full  regi¬ 
ment  of  cavalry  in  the  counties  of  Clark,  Madison  and  Estill.  This 
regiment  was  designated  the  7th  (afterwards  lltli)  Kentucky  Vol¬ 
unteer  Confederate  Cavalry,  and  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  famous  General  John  H.  Morgan.  Colonel  Chenault  partici¬ 
pated  in  all  the  battles,  marches  and  raids  of  this  command 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


Ill 


from  the  time  he  joined  it  until  the  day  of  his  death,  which  oc¬ 
curred  July  4,  1863,  at  Green  River  Bridge,  Kentucky,  during  the 
beginning  of  the  celebrated  “Ohio  raid,”  which  ultimately  resulted 
in  the  capture  and  disruption  of  Morgan’s  forces.  At  Green 
River  Bridge,  in  the  first  days  of  this  raid.  General  Morgan  found 
his  way  blocked  by  Colonel  Moore  and  a  small  number  of  Michi¬ 
gan  troops,  strongly  entrenched  in  an  almost  impregnable  posi- 
lion,  the  reduction  of  which,  under  the  circumstances,  was  an  ut¬ 
ter  impossibility.  However,  two  regiments,  Chenault’s  and  John¬ 
son’s,  were  ordered  to  attack  the  position.  The  lire  of  the«j\lichi 
gan  troops  upon  the  charging  columns  was  deadly  from  the  first, 
they  being  completely  covered  and  protected  by  earthworks  and 
a  formidable  system  of  out  lying  abatlis.  It  was  while  gallantly 
leading  his  men  in  this  hopeless  assault  that  Colonel  Chenautt 
was  shot  through  the  head  and  instantly  killed  by  a  sharpshooter 
lying  concealed  in  the  abattis,  who  immediately  sprang  up  and 
attempted  to  seek  by  flight  the  cover  of  the  earthworks.  How¬ 
ever,  he  was  shot  and  killed  by  one  of  Colonel  Chenault’s  men — 
Private  Waller  Combs,  of  Captain  Gordon  Mullins’  company,  from 
Clark  county.  Colonel  Chenault’s  remains  were  soon  afterwards 
removed  to  Madison  county,  and  reinterred  in  the  old  family  bury- 
ing-ground  heretofore  mentioned. 

(J.  Anderson  Tiffin  Chenault,  born  April  19,  1829;  married, 
first,  Ann  Y.  Williams  (daughter  of  Samuel  Williams  and  grand¬ 
daughter  of  Jarrett  Williams,  who  served  under  George  Rogers 
Clark  in  the  great  Northwestern  campaign  of  the  Revolution),  by 
whom  he  had  no  children.  He  was  again  married  December  3, 
189(1,  to  Mrs.  Pattie  Parrish,  whose  maiden  name  was  also  Parrish. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  Owen  Parrish,  and  her  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Joseph  Gentry,  who  was  closely  related  to  the  Bush 
family,  of  Clark  county.  Sin*  is  also  a  great-great-granddaughter 
of  George  Boone,  the  brother  of  Daniel  Boone.  Anderson  Tiffin 
Chenault  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  popular  citizens  of 
Madison  county,  which  he  represented  in  the  lower  house  of  the 
Legislature  in  1867-’8-’9,  and  again  in  1887-’8.  He  has  often  been 
importuned  bv  his  fellow-citizens  to  stand  for  Representative  in 
Congress,  but  has  not  yet  done  so. 


112 


THE  CHEN  AULT  FAMILY. 


7.  Emily  Cameron  Cheuault,  born  February  15,  1832;  mar¬ 
ried  October  14,  1847,  to  James  Francis  Quisenberry,  whom  she 
survives,  and  by  whom  she  had  four  children:  Emma  Alice  Quis¬ 
enberry,  Anderson  Cheuault  Quisenberry,  Waller  Quisenberry,  and 
James  Francis  Quisenberry.  (See  Chapter  VIII.) 

8.  Dr.  Robert  Cameron  Clienault,  born  March  23,  1834;  mar¬ 
ried  Henrietta  Bronston,  daughter  of  Elder  Thomas  Bronston, 
of  Madison  county.  They  had  five  children:  Emily,  Lucy,  Mary, 
Pearl  and  Robert.  Dr.  Cheuault  graduated  at  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  Philadelphia,  and  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most 
prominent  and  prosperous  physicians  in  Madison  county.  He  served 
altogether  about  six  years  as  medical  superintendent  of  the  Eastern 
Kentucky  Lunatic  Asylum,  at  Lexington,  under  the  administrations 
of  Governors  Leslie,  McCreary,  and  Blackburn,  consecutively;  and 
again  for  about  three  years  under  the  administration  of  Governor 
Knott.  His  administration  of  this  asylum  was  first-class  in  every 
particular,  and  gained  for  him  a  great  reputation  both  as  an  execu¬ 
tive  officer  and  as  a  physician  for  the  insane;  but  his  persistent  ef¬ 
forts  to  introduce  reforms  and  economy  in  the  use  of  the  funds  of 
the  asylum,  during  his  last  administration,  awakened  against  him  a 
bitter  and  uncompromising  opposition,  which  greatly  hampered 
his  efforts  and  ultimately  resulted  in  his  retirement.  He  died  at 
Anchorage,  Kv.,  February,  1894.  His  daughter,  Emily,  married 
Asa  Runyon,  whom  she  survives,  and  by  whom  she  had  two  chil¬ 
dren — a  son  and  a  daughter.  She  is  now  practicing  medicine  in 
Richmond,  Virginia.  Mary  married  Aitcheson  Alexander  Bow- 
mar,  of  Versailles,  Ivy.,  and  has  one  child,  a  daughter.  Pearl 
married  Dr.  Silas  A.  Evans,  proprietor  of  the  High  Oaks  Sanita¬ 
rium,  at  Lexington,  which  was  established  by  Dr.  R.  C.  Chenault. 
Robert  is  unmarried. 


OTHER  CHENAULTS. 

James  Chenault,  in  an  application  for  a  pension  filed  in  April, 
1819,  stated  that  he  was  then  living  in  Rockingham  county,  Vir¬ 
ginia,  aged  sixty-five  years,  and  that  he  had  enlisted  in  the  Revo¬ 
lutionary  army  in  September,  1770  (5th  Virginia  regiment,  Con- 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


113 


tiiiental  Line),  for  a  term  of  two  years.  He  was  in  the  winter 
camp  at  Valley  Forge,  and  fought  in  the  battles  of  Stillwater, 
Saratoga,  Brandywine  and  Germantown. 

John  Chenault,  in  an  application  for  a  pension  filed  in  June, 
1820,  stated  that  he  was  then  living  in  Columbia  county,  Georgia, 
aged  sixty  live  years,  and  that  he  had  enlisted  in  the  Revolutionary 
army  in  March,  1770,  for  a  term  of  two  years,  with  Captain  Sam¬ 
uel  Cabell,  in  Colonel  Mordecai  Buckner's  (5th  Virginia  regiment 
of  the  Continental  Line,  and  that  he  was  in  the  two  battles  at 
Stillwater  (September  1!)  and  October  7,  1777),  and  was  dis¬ 
charged  in  December,  1777,  and  immediately  re-enlisted  under 
Captain  John  Marks,  in  the  command  of  Colonel  Davis.  He  was 
detached  at  Stillwater  to  the  command  of  Colonel  Morgan's  Vir¬ 
ginia  Rifles,  in  the  battles  at  that  place.  Then  he  was  transferred 
to  the  lltli  Virginia  regiment,  and  was  with  that  regiment  at  the 
battle  of  Monmouth,  June  28,  1778,  and  was  discharged  in  De¬ 
cember.  1770.  The  members  of  his  family  in  June,  1820,  were, 
his  wife,  Nancy,  aged  forty-five  years  (doubtless  a  second  wife), 
and  the  following  children:  John,  aged  thirteen;  Louisa,  aged  ten, 
and  Mary  Ann,  aged  seven. 

In  April,  1865,  the  executive  portion  of  the  Confederate  Gov¬ 
ernment,  composed  of  the  President,  Jefferson  Davis,  and  several 
members  of  his  cabinet,  disbanded  and  disintegrated  on  the  farm 
of  John  Chenault,  near  Washington,  Ga.  This  John  Chenault  was 
doubtless  the  son  or  grandson  of  the  Revolutionary  soldier  of  the 
same  name.  There  have  been  many  stories  told  of  large  sums  of 
gold  and  silver  money  hidden  or  buried  on  INI r.  Chenault 's  farm  by 
the  Confederate  chiefs  when  they  disbanded;  but,  so  far  as  is 
known,  none  of  it  has  ever  been  discovered. 

E.  N.  Chenault,  Fourelie  Dam,  Arkansas,  writes  (November 
20,  1888)  that  his  grandfather.  Stephen  Chenault,  was  born  in 
Virginia  in  1788;  moved  thence  to  Georgia  (In*  was  probably  a  son 
of  John  Chenault,  tin*  Revolutionary  soldier,  by  a  first  wife);  from 
there  to  Alabama,  and  thence,  to  Texas,  where  he  died  in  1885,  in 
the  ninety-seventh  year  of  his  age.  E.  N.  Chenault's  father,  Ste¬ 
phen  J.  Chenault,  was  killed  in  the  Confederate  army.  He  says 


114 


T1IE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


there  are  a  great  many  Chenaults  iu  Arkansas,  none  of  whom, 
except  one  brother,  are  of  his  branch  of  the  family  so  far  as  he 
knows.  At  the  date  of  the  letter  his  grandfather's  brother,  a  very 
old  and  very  wealthy  bachelor,  was  still  living  in  Columbia  county, 
Georgia.  Mr.  Chenault  stated  further  that  he  knew  of  a  family 
of  Chenaults  living  near  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  of  still  other 
families — one  living  in  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  and  one  in  Gauda- 
loupe  county,  Texas,  a  member  of  which  was  then  or  had  recently 
been  County  Clerk  of  Gaudaloupe  county.  Mr.  E.  N.  Chenault 
also  had  an  uncle,  Rev.  E.  N.  Chenault.  a  Baptist  minister,  living 
at  Hico,  Texas,  AVho  was  then  a  very  old  man.  All  this  family  of 
Chenaults  were  Baptists. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Hawkins,  Center  City,  Texas,  writes  (December 
10,  1888)  that  her  father,  Stephen  J.  Chenault,  was  born  in  Colum¬ 
bia  county,  Georgia,  of  Virginian  parentage.  His  father,  also 
named  Stephen,  moved  from  Geoi’gia  to  Tennessee;  tlienc£  to  Ala¬ 
bama,  where  he  died;  and  he  had  a  twin  brother  named  Reuben 
Chenault,  who  also  died  in  Alabama.  Her  father,  Stephen  J. 
Chenault,  had  four  brothers — George,  Maurice,  William  and  John. 
She  states  that  she  had  two  brothers  living — William  H.  Chenault, 
of  Collegeville,  Ark.,  and  John  M.  Chenault,  of  West  Station,  Hill 
county,  Texas.  She  states  also  that  “there  is  a  Stephen  Chenault 
living  at  Beaumont,  Texas,  whose  father's  name  was  Felix  Che¬ 
nault.”  All  the  Chenaults  she  ever  heard  of  were  Baptists. 

The  records  of  the  War  Department,  at  Washington,  show  that 
Benjamin  Shinault  served  in  a  Virginia  regiment  in  the  Revolution¬ 
ary  war,  and  in  1820,  when  he  applied  for  a  pension,  he  was  living 
in  Grayson  county,  Virginia,  and  about  1830  he  settled  permanently 
in  Surry  county,  North  Carolina. 

Napoleon  B.  Shinault,  of  Byphalia,  Miss.,  writes  (January  18, 
1889)  that  his  father,  John  Shinault,  had  three  brothers — Waller, 
James  and  Stephen,  all  born  in  Alabama.  He  himself  was  born  in 
Shelby  county,  Tennessee,  not  far  from  Memphis;  and  he  had  three 
brothers,  William,  James  and  John.  He  has  a  nephew,  James 
Shinault,  who  is  a  druggist  in  Byphalia,  and  he  has  heard  of  fam- 


THE  CUENAULT  FAMILY. 


315 


« 

ilies  of  the  name  in  Middle  Tennessee  and  Southern  Kentucky.  His 
branch  of  the  family  are  nearly  all  Baptists. 

J.  L.  Chernault,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Farnrville,  Prince  Ed¬ 
ward  county,  Virginia,  states  that  his  name  was  originally  spelled 
“Chenault,”  but  that  he  inserted  an  “r,”  as  lie  considered  that  it 
made  the  name  more  euphonious.  His  family,  so  far  as  he  knows 
(except  that  they  originally  came  from  France),  have  always  lived 
in  Virginia,  and  he  has  seen  old  records  in  which  the  name  was 
spelled  “Chenaut.”  His  father  was  named  Benjamin  Chenault. 
About  all  the  Chenaults  in  Virginia,  so  far  as  lie  knows,  are 
Baptists. 

Captain  Churchill  ().  Chenault,  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  states 
that  his  father  was  born  in  Lynchburg,  Va.,  and  that  his  grand¬ 
father,  Christopher  Chenault,  was  the  agent  in  Virginia  for  a 
French  fur  company,  prior  to  tin*  Revolutionary  war,  and  bought 
up  furs  from  the  Indians  and  trappers,  and  shipped  them  to 
France.  Captain  Churchill  O.  Chenault  is  tin*  donor  of  a  great 
many  of  the  most  interesting  animals  now  in  the  National  Zoolog¬ 
ical  Park,  at  Washington,  I).  C.  He  is  charmingly  described  in  a 
sketch  by  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  in  Scribner’s  Magazine  for  Decem¬ 
ber,  1893,  entitled:  “How  (he  Captain  Made  Christmas.” 

Allen’s  History  of  Kentucky  states  that  a  Stephen  Chenault 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Green  county,  Kentucky,  on  May  23, 
3803;  and  Allen  adds  that  he  knows  nothing  of  the  history  of  this 
Stephen  Chenault,  never  having  seen  his  name  except  in  the  record 
of  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  said  county. 

From  “Bench  and  Bar  of  Missouri,”  by  W.  V.  N.  Bay. 

JOHN  R.  CHENAULT.— We  first  met  this  gentleman  at  the 
session  of  the  Missouri  Legislature  in  1844.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  lower  house  and  represented  the  county  of  Jasper.  It  was 
the  commencement  of  his  public  life,  and  lie  was  soon  regarded  as 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  delegation  from  Southwestern  Missouri. 
Modest  and  unassuming,  with  genial  manners  and  gentlemanly  de¬ 
portment,  lie  gradually  won  the  confidence  of  the  House,  and  was 


116 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


honored  by  being-  placed  upon  some  of  the  most  important  com¬ 
mittees.  Without  being  at  all  brilliant,  he  was  a  forcible  and  fluent 
speaker,  and  all  his  speeches  contained  a  vein  of  good  sense  which 
never  failed  to  command  the  attention  and  respect  of  his  hearers. 
The  subject  in  which  he  manifested  the  most  interest  was  the  im¬ 
provement  of  the  Osage  river,  for  that  stream  furnished  the  only 
outlet  for  the  produce  of  Southern  Missouri,  railroads  being  un¬ 
known  in  that  day. 

Judge  Chenault  was  born  near  Bardstown,  Ky.,  November  7, 
1808.  His  grandparents  were  from  Virginia,  and  his  father,  Stephen 
Chenault,  studied  law  with  Felix  Grundy.  He  and  Mr.  Grundy 
married  sisters.  Judge  Chenault’s  education  was  confined  to  the 
common  schools  of  Kentucky,  but  he  had  the  benefit  of  private  in¬ 
struction  from  his  father,  who  was  well  versed  in  the  classics.  It 
was  at  his  father’s  instance  that  he  studied  law  with  Charles  A. 
Wickliffe,  and  finished  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Grundy. 

In  1830  or  1831  he  married  Martha  J.  Staples,  of  Meade  county, 
Kentucky.  After  his  marriage  lie  resided  with  his  father  about 
two  years,  then  moved  to  Gallatin,  Sumner  county,  Tennessee,  and 
after  a  residence  there  of  two  years  came  to  Missouri  and  settled  in 
Jasper  county.  He  soon  acquired  a  fair  practice  and  attended  all 
the  courts  in  his  circuit.  During  the  administration  of  President 
Tyler  he  was  appointed  Indian  Agent,  the  duties  of  which  lie  faith¬ 
fully  performed.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  Judge  of  the  13th 
Judicial  District,  composed  of  the  counties  of  Dade,  Lawrence, 
Jasper,  Newton,  Barry,  Greene,  Taney,  Stone  and  McDonald.  It 
was  an  immense  circuit,  and  embraced  a  territory  more  extensive 
than  some  of  the  New  England  States.  Court  and  lawyers  traveled 
on  horseback  and  carried  their  law  library  in  their  saddle-bags. 
Judge  Chenault  presided  over  this  circuit  many  years,  and  made 
an  honest,  impartial  and  upright  judge.  In  1861  he  was  elected  a 
delegate  to  the  State  Constitutional  Convention,  and  represented 
in  part  the  17th  Senatorial  District,  composed  of  the  counties  of 
Dade,  Jasper  and  Cedar.  He  took  very  little  part  in  the  debates, 
but  generally  voted  with  the  secessionists.  Before  the  final  ad¬ 
journment  of  the  convention  he  moved  to  Dallas,  Texas,  in  hopes 
of  improving  his  financial  condition,  for  he  had  become  much  em- 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


117 


barrassed  and  had  a  large  family  wholly  dependent  upon  him.  The 
change  of  residence  seemed  to  prosper  him,  for  he  soon  obtained  a 
fair  practice,  but  his  constitution  began  to  give  way  under  the 
labor,  cares  and  mental  anxiety  which  lie  had  to  encounter,  and  on 
March  12,  1873,  he  left  this  world.  A  wife,  three  sons  and  three 
daughters  survived  him. 

From  ‘‘The  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Illinois,”  by 
A.  T.  Norton. 

THOMAS  WOODRUFF  HYNES  (Autobiographical). — I  was 
born  at  Bardstown,  Nelson  county,  Kentucky,  October  5,  1815.  My 
father,  William  R.  Hynes,  was  a  native  of  Washington  county, 
Maryland.  *  *  *  My  mother,  Barbara  Clienault,  was  a  native 

of  Essex  county,  Virginia.  Her  family  were  Huguenot  French,  and 
all  of  the  name  of  Clienault  in  this  country  are  descendants  of  three 
brothers,  who  tied  from  France  at  the  time  of  the  terrible  slaughter 
of  the  Protestants,  commonly  known  as  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartho¬ 
lomew.  My  father  was  an  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of 
Bardstown,  and  died  there  in  1837.  My  first  school  was  taught  by 
my  uncle,  Stephen  Clienault.  *  *  * 

[Note.— No  r<  cord  has  1  ecu  found  of  tin*  coming  to  America  of 
three  Clienault  brothers  as  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  paragraph. 
Estienne  (Stephen)  is  the  only  one  named.  St.  Bartholomew’s  mas¬ 
sacre  occurred  in  1572,  thirty-five  years  before  the  settlement  of 
Jamestown,  the  first  Protestant  colony  in  America.  A  Stephen 
Clienault,  of  Bardstown,  was  a  quartermaster  of  Kentucky  troops, 
2d  Regiment  Mounted  Militia,  in  the  War  of  1812. — A.  C.  Q.] 

Stephen  Clienault,  of  Orange,  Texas,  writes  under  date  of 
March  5,  1897:  “My  grandfather’s  name  was  Stephen  Clienault.  I 
think  lie  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  about  1788  settled  in 
Kentucky,  lb*  was  a  farmer,  and  also  a  physician  of  considerable 
reputation,  as  1  infer  from  1  he  fact  that  the  Medical  College  of  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  M.  I).,  as  an  honorary 
member,  lb*  movi  d  from  Kentucky  to  Missouri  about  1825  or  1830, 
and  settled  in  Osage  county.  He  had  four  sons  and  three  daugh¬ 
ters,  viz:  John,  James,  Felix,  William,  Louisa,  Eliza  and  Martha. 
He  died  in  1840,  being  past  eighty  years  of  age.  lb*  served  in  the 


118 


TIIE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


War  of  1812,  and  was  with  General  Jackson  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans.  His  son,  John  Ghenault,  was  at  one  time  an  Indian  agent 
for  the  United  States;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  late  war  he  was 
Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southwestern  District  of  Mis¬ 
souri.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
war  his  estate  was  confiscated  and  he  moved  to  Texas,  settling  near 
Dallas,  where  lie  died.  My  father,  Felix  Chenault,  was  born  in 
1804  and  was  educated  at  Bardstown,  Ky.  He  moved  to  Gallatin, 
Tenn.,  where  he  married  Ann  Trigg,  and  was  engaged  in  the  mer¬ 
cantile  business  there  from  1830  to  1835.  In  1830  he  moved  to 
Mississippi,  and  in  1838  he  settled  in  Gonzales  county,  Texas,  it 
then  being  a  wild  and  frontier  section.  He  participated  in  the  In¬ 
dian  troubles  incident  to  the  times  and  place.  He  was  elected 
County  Clerk  in  184(5,  and  held  the  place  continuously  until  his 
death  in  1872.  I  was  born  on  January  6,  1831,  at  Gallatin,  Tenn., 
and  was  educated  in  the  log  cabin  schools  of  early  Texas.  I  studied 
law  when  21  years  of  age,  and  attended  the  Law  University  of 
Louisiana  in  1854  and  1855,  and  have  been  practicing  law  ever 
since,  except  four  years  I  served  in  the  Confederate  army.  I  have 
held  various  offices,  and  was  a  Representative  in  the  Texas  Legisla¬ 
ture  in  1880.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  in  depen 
dent  in  politics,  and  proud  of  my  Huguenot  blood.  I  have  one 
child,  a  daughter — Hattie  Ellen  Chenault;  and  although  I  say  it, 
she  is  possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  intellect,  and  is  phenome¬ 
nally  intelligent.  My  wife  was  a  Miss  McKenzie,  of  Scotch  and 
French  descent.” 

William  Sliinault,  of  Coinjock,  North  Carolina,  writes  under 
date  of  March  3,  1S97 :  “I  am  a  native  of  Virginia,  a  son  of  Dixon 
Sliinault,  who  was  the  son  of  John  Sliinault.  From  the  best  in¬ 
formation  I  can  get,  my  grandfather,  John  Sliinault,  settled  in  Mar- 
tliews  county,  Va.,  about  the  year  1800.  In  1806  he  married  Eliza¬ 
beth  Rankin,  and  they  had  two  daughters  and  one  son.  Dixon 
Chenault,  my  father,  married  Mildred  Foster  in  1840,  and  they  had 
eight  daughters  and  two  sons — myself  and  Janies  M.  Sliinault,  now 
residing  in  Matthews  county,  Va.  My  grandfather,  John  Sliinault, 
died  at  the  age  of  85  years.  I  have  been  told  that  he  served  both  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  and  in  the  War  of  1812.  My  father,  Dixon 
Sliinault,  died  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  78  years.” 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


119 


The  following  information  concerning  Chenaults  who  served  in 
the  War  of  1812,  is  gleaned  from  the  “Master  and  Pay  Rolls  of  the 
Virginia  Militia,”  viz: 

Presley  Chenault,  in  Captain  Reuben  McGarnett’s  company  of 
Colonel  Wm.  Boyd's  9th  regiment. 

John  Chenault,  of  Augusta  county,  in  Captain  Archibald 
Stuart's  company  of  Colonel  James  McDowell's  93d  regiment,  or 
“Flying  Camp.'’ 

James  Chenault  and  John  Chenault,  in  Captain  John  Sizer's 
company  of  Colonel  Leavin  Gayle’s  30tli  regiment. 

Henry  Chenault,  in  Captain  Boaz  Ford’s  company  of  Light  In¬ 
fantry,  7th  regiment. 

There  is  a  town  named  Chenault  in  Lincoln  county,  Georgia. 


CHENAULTS  IN  FRANCE. 

The  following  letters  are  from  two  officers  of  the  French  army, 
with  whom  a  correspondence  has  recently  been  had: 

From  Lieutenant  Michel  Chenault,  73d  Regiment,  Armee 
Territorial,  letter  dated  No.  11,  Rue  Baulant,  Paris,  France,  Sep¬ 
tember  19,  1895: 

“In  reply  to  your  favor  of  August  28tli,  I  regret  to  say  that  I 
am  unable  to  give  you  all  the  information  you  did  me  the  honor  to 
request.  As  to  the  name  Chenault,  I  do  not  exactly  know  its  ety¬ 
mology,  unless  it  is,  as  you  said,  Chene  haut  (high  oak).  The  name 
Clieneau  may  have  two  significations:  (1)  Cheneau  (Juene  chene') 
(young  oak);  or  (2)  Cheneau  (Conduire  l'eau)  (to  carry  water).  So 
far  as  I  know  the  name  Chenault  is  not  derived  from  either  of 
these.  The  name  Chenault  is  scarce  in  France;  Cheneau,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  is  frequently  found.  As  to  the  genealogy  of  my  family,  my 
knowledge  of  it  is  rather  short,  dating  hardly  back  to  the  French 
Revolution.  My  father,  who  lost  his  parents  when  very  young,  was 
born  in  Berry,  where  he  still  lives,  and  where,  1  believe,  there  is  no 
one  else  of  his  name.  1  have  never  heard  that  the  family  came  from 
Languedoc,  or  that  it  lived  there  for  any  length  of  time.  I  believe 
I  understood  the  spirit  of  your  letter,  and  w'ould  have  liked  to  give 


120 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


von  fuller  (and  especially  more  definite)  information.  However,  I 
shall  continue  my  researches,  and  shall  not  fail  to  consult  records 
that  may  be  of  use  in  the  establishment  of  identities.  If  I  lind 
anything  of  interest  to  you  1  will  gladly  communicate  it  to  you. 
Please  accept,  sir,  with  great  respect,  the  assurance  of  my  esteem.” 


From  the  same,  letter  dated  Paris,  November  28,  1805: 

To-day  1  was  agreeably  surprised  to  receive  the  photograph  of 
your  uncle,  Colonel  David  Waller  Chenault.  I  thank  you  heartily 
therefor,  and  shall  send  you  mine  as  soon  as  I  can.  I  am  obliged 
to  have  my  photograph  taken,  as  I  am  not  prepared  for  this 
emergency.  1  am  delighted  to  have  pleased  you  and  your  family, 
and  would  like  to  give  you  fuller  information  to  day,  but  it  has 
been  impossible  to  obtain  any  and  my  father  can  only  repeat  what 
I  have  already  told  you — a  fact  readily  understood  from  the  large 
emigrations  and  changes  which  occurred  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century.  The  families  that  have  no  records  and  no  longer  any 
proprietary  titles  (which  I  believe  to  be  the  case  with  my  family) 
leave  little  chance  of  success  in  genealogical  research.  In  closing 
I  regret  to  be  unable  to  give  you  further  details,  but  I  hope,  how¬ 
ever,  to  lind  some,  though  it  will  be  necessary  to  search,  and  above 
all  to  be  favored  by  luck.  Please  accept,  sir,  with  my  compliments, 
the  assurance  of  my  best  wishes.” 

From  same,  letter  dated  Paris,  January  2,  1896: 

“I  have  received  your  valued  favor  of  December  23,  and  shall 
not  task  your  excusable  impatience  any  longer.  I  send  you  here¬ 
with  my  photograph,  and  regret  very  much  to  have  let  you  wait  so 
long,  though  I  trust  you  will  kindly  excuse  me,  as  I  was  somewhat 
indisposed  and  confined  to  my  room  for  some  time;  but  do  not  let 
this  give  you  any  uneasiness  concerning  the  promise  I  made  you. 
I  think,  like  you,  that  those  who  have  exactly  similar  names  have 
every  probability  of  having  come  from  the  same  origin,  though 
diversity  of  life,  aided  by  time  and  separation,  have  made  kinship, 
that  may  be  rather  close,  ambiguous,  if  not  untraceable.  It  may  be 
folly,  at  the  least,  to  seek  to  establish  an  exact  relationship,  which, 
I  believe,  if  not  impossible  is  at  least  very  difficult,  without  having 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


121 


in  every  instance  a  good  starting  point.  On  the  occasion  of  the  new 
year  I  have  the  honor  to  extend  1o  you  and  my  kinsmen  of  America 
my  best  New  Year's  wishes,  and  beg  that  you  will  accept  the 
homage  of  my  best  regards.” 

From  the  same,  letter  dated  Paris,  March  25,  18915: 

“Please  excuse  me  for  waiting  so  long  to  write  an  answer  to 
yours  of  January  15,  and  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  your  picture, 
which  pleased  me  very  much.  My  duties  at  present  do  not  permit 
me  to  continue  my  researches,  which,  perhaps,  would  be  useless 
without  a  well-defined  clue.  I  hope  to  find  it  in  your  book,  and 
shall  therefore  wait  for  a  copy  before  engaging  again  upon  what 
lias  so  far  been  a  fruitless  labor.  For,  as  I  have  already  told  you, 
to  make  careful  and  successful  researches  in  Languedoc,  which  is 
about  one-tenth  of  France,  is  not  an  easy  thing.  The  names  you 
gave  me  as  forming  part  of  the  colony  with  which  your  ancestor, 
Estienne  Chenault,  left  France,  are  all  good  French  names.  Col 
cassier,  Dozier,  Calmes,  seem  to  be  from  Languedoc,  the  other 
names  would  more  certainly  be  encountered  in  the  center  of  the 
country.  According  to  my  opinion,  the  colony  must  have  recruited 
a  li t tie  from  every  section.  At  that  period  of  religious  persecution 
the  transmigration  took  place  everywhere,  and  was  often  definite. 
Please  accept,  dear  sir,  the  assurance  of  my  best  wishes.” 

From  Pierre-Edouard  Chenault,  Chef  de  Battailon  (Major) 
Fervice  des  Chemins  de  fer,  Army  Territoriale,  letter  dated  No.  10 
Rue  de  Berne,  Paris,  January  30,  1896: 

“I  have  the  honor  to  ask  that  you  will  excuse  me  for  not  having 
sooner  replied  to  your  very  esteemed  letter,  in  which  you  request 
information  regarding  my  family.  Believe  me  that  I  should  have 
placed  myself  entirely  at  your  disposal  if  I  had  been  able  to  give 
you  interesting  details,  of  which,  as  it  is,  I  am  entirely  ignorant. 
Unfortunately,  I  lost  my  father,  Etienne  Chenault,  last  year. 
Through  him  I  might  have  learned  much  of  (he  origin  of  our  family, 
though  I  never  asked  him  while  he  was  living.  I  remember  to  have 
seen  in  my  youth  some  old  papers  concerning  my  ancestors,  but  I 
could  not  find  them  at  the  death  of  my  father.  lie  was  born  at  Or 


122 


THE  CHENAULT  FAMILY. 


loans,  the  birthplace  also  of  my  grandfather,  I  believe;  and  that  is 
all  I  know.  I  left  my  family  to  join  the  Marine  Infantry,  and  from 
1859  until  my  retirement  the  greater  part  of  my  military  career  was 
passed  in  the  colonies.  That  means  that  I  saw  very  little  of  my 
parents  and  only  when  I  was  able  to  obtain  leave  for  a  few  months. 
On  retiring  from  the  army  I  took  up  my  residence  at  Paris,  still 
away  from  my  people.  I  cannot,  therefore,  give  you  the  informa¬ 
tion  you  desire  and  which  I  would  have  been  happy  to  communi¬ 
cate.  I  regret  this  exceedingly.  Please  accept,  dear  sir,  the  expres¬ 
sion  of  my  most  devoted  sentiments.” 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE  MULLINS  FAMILY. 

Thanks  are  due  to  Mrs.  Mary  King-,  of  Newcastle,  Ivy.,  for  the 
following-  account  of  the  descendants  of  Matthew  Mullins,  who  mar¬ 
ried  Mary  Maupin,  in  Goochland  county,  Virginia.  Mary  Mullins' 
mother  was  Margaret  Maupin,  wife  of  Daniel  Maupin  and  daughter 
<if  Thomas  Grown,  jr.,  of  Virginia,  whose  wife,  a  Miss  Voiers,  was 
a  native  of  Wales.  The  Mullins  and  the  Maupins  were  among  the 
original  French  Huguenot  settlers  at  Monikin-Town,  and  they  were 
related  to  the  Dabneys,  Ballards  and  Harrises  of  Virginia  and  Ken¬ 
tucky  by  intermarriage.  Daniel  Maupin  was  granted  1,188  acres 
of  land  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  in  1745.  The  original  form 
of  the  name  Mullins,  or  Mull  in,  was  almost  certainly  Moulin,  which 
is  the  French  word  for  mill.  The  signification  of  Maupin  is  not 
known,  but  it  is  a  name  of  “territorial”  origin,  and  the  Maupins  of 
the  present  are  among-  the  most  aristocratic  families  in  France. 
Gabriel  Maupin  and  wife  and  three  children  were  the  original  set¬ 
tlers  in  Virginia,  and  the  name  was  then  spelled  “Maupain.”  Mrs. 
Brown  claims  Voiers  as  a  Welch  name,  and  it  may  be  that,  but 
Voier  is  a  French  name,  also,  and  signifies  an  examiner  or  in¬ 
spector. 

Matthew  Mullins  and  Mary  Maupin,  his  wife,  were  born  and 
lived  and  died  in  Goochland  county,  Virginia.  The  records  of  the 
War  Department  show  that  he  served  as  a  sergeant  in  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  war  in  Captain  William  Croghan’s  company  of  the  con¬ 
solidated  4tli,  8th  and  12th  Virginia  Regiments  of  Foot,  commanded 
by  Colonel  James  Wood;  and  Hennng’s  Statutes,  Volum  *  VII,  page 
203,  show  that  he  and  his  two  sons,  John  and  William,  served  with 
the  Virginia  Militia  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  1758.  He 


124 


THIS  MULLINS  FAMILY. 


raised  nine  children,  to  wit:  Five  sons — William,  John,  Gabriel, 
Matthew,  Richard;  and  four  daughters — Margaret,  Jane,  Mary, 
Elizabeth. 

1.  WILLIAM  MULLINS,  who  served  in  the  French  and  In¬ 
dian  M  ar  in  1758,  was  also  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  in 
which  he  was  killed.  He  left  two  children,  one  of  whom  died  in  in¬ 
fancy,  and  the  other,  William  by  name,  went  to  Madison  county, 
Kentucky,  where  he  married  Nancy  Woods,  of  that  county.  They 
went  to  Missouri  about  1812,  where  he  died  some  years  later,  leav¬ 
ing  two  children. 

2.  JOHN  MULLINS,  who  served  in  the  French  and  Indian 
war  in  175S,  died  in  Virginia  and  was  never  married. 

3.  GABRIEL  MULLINS,  who  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  married  Rachel  Ballard,  in  Virginia,  and  went  to  Madison 
county,  Kentucky,  about  1790,  and  afterwards  settled  in  Pendleton 
county,  Kentucky.  His  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Francis  Ballard 
and  niece  of  Bland  Ballard,  sr.,  of  Shelby  county,  Kentucky.  They 
had  ten  children — Stephen,  Reuben,  Richard,  Fountain,  Mary, 
Frances,  Tinsley,  Patrick,  Elizabeth,  and  one  other.  Stephen  mar¬ 
ried  a  Miss  Riddle,  of  Pendleton  county,  by  whom  he  had  no  chil¬ 
dren;  his  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Thrasher,  by  whom  he  had  a  num¬ 
ber  of  children.  Richard  and  Fountain  and  Reuben  do  not  appear 
to  have  married.  Mary  married  Peter  Rush,  and  they  settled  in 
Rush  county,  Indiana,  where  they  now  have  many  descendants. 
Frances  married  a  Mr.  McRay,  and  now  lives  in  the  northern  part 
of  Missouri. 

4.  MATTHEW  MULLINS  is  shown  by  the  records  of  the  War 
Department  to  have  served  three  different  tours  of  duty  as  a  private 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  amounting  in  all  to  about  one  year.  He 
enlisted  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  in  1780,  and  was  finally 
discharged  in  1781.  He  served,  at  the  various  times,  under  Colonels 

Holt  Richardson,  James  Innis,  and - Lindsay,  and  he  fought  in 

the  battle  at  Jamestown  and  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  He  married 
Sarah  Clarke,  in  Virginia,  and  moved  to  Madison  county,  Kentucky, 
in  1791,  and  died  there  in  1836  in  his  seventy-seventh  year.  He  re¬ 
ceived  a  Revolutionary  pension.  He  had  two  children — Louvenia, 


THE  MULLINS  FAMILY. 


125 


who  married  William  Hogan,  of  Madison  county,  by  whom  she  had 
nine  children;  and  Peggy,  who  married  a  Mr.  Richardson,  and  had 
one  child,  now  dead.  Her  second  husband  was  Callaway  Young. 

5.  RICHARD  MULLINS,  married  Mary  Clark,  in  Virginia, 
and  moved  to  Madison  county,  Kentucky.  They  had  two  children, 
Hudson  and  Susan.  His  second  wife  was  Susan  Woods,  daughter 
of  Adam  Woods,  of  Madison  county.  He  then  went  to  Missouri, 
where  he  was  drowned  about  the  year  1825.  His  son,  Hudson,  mar¬ 
ried  in  Madison  county  and  moved  to  Indiana,  and  his  daughter, 
Susan,  married  a  Gillispie,  and  ieft  issue,  and  one  of  their  children, 
Peggy  Gillispie,  married  a  Boggs,  of  Madison  county. 

ti.  MARGARET  MULLINS  married  Jeremiah  Yancey,  of  Al¬ 
bemarle  county,  Virginia,  and  had  six  children — Charles,  Jechonias, 
Robert,  Joel,  Mary  and  Elizabeth.  Charles  married  a  Miss  Fields, 
in  Virginia,  whom  In*  survived,  and  he  was  married  a  second  time; 
and  Jeremiah  and  Ralph  are  the  only  ones  of  his  children  whose 
names  are  now  known.  Jechonias  married  a  sister  of  his  brother 
Charles’  second  wife  (name  not  known),  and  had  several  children. 
Robert  married  a  Miss  Rozelle,  and  had  four  children,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  He  moved  to  Missouri,  where  he  died.  His  two 
sons  were  named  Jeremiah  and  Charles.  Joel  married  a  Miss 
Rhoades,  in  Virginia,  and  moved  to  Barren  county,  Kentucky.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  culture,  and  served  both  in  the  Kentucky  Legis¬ 
lature  and  the  National  Congress.  He  represented  Barren  county 
in  the  Kentucky  Senate,  1816-’20,  and  was  a  member  of  the  lower 
house  of  Congress  from  1821  (o  1831,  inclusive.  Mary  married  David 
Rhoades,  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  and  had  live  children. 
Elizabeth  married  John  Wood,  of  Virginia,  and  left  issue.  William 
L.  Yancey,  of  Alabama,  the  famous  Southern  orator  and  statesman, 
was  of  this  family  of  Yanceys. 

7.  JANE  MULLINS  married  Benjamin  Clark,  of  Albemarle 
county,  Virginia,  and  they  moved  to  Madison  county,  Kentucky, 
where  she  died  in  1844,  in  the  ninetieth  year  of  her  age,  leaving  ten 
children — William,  David,  Sarah,  Susan,  Elizabeth,  Richard,  Lucy, 
Robert,  Mary  and  Woodson.  William  married  Catherine  Sweeney,  of 
Madison  county,  and  had  three  children,  who  are  now  living  in  Lex¬ 
ington,  Ky.,  and  one  of  them,  Susan,  married  William  Wilson,  of 


126 


THE  MULLINS  FAMILY. 


Lexington,  whose  son  married  a  Miss  Wickliffe,  of  that  city.  David 
married  a  Miss  Rodison,  of  Madison  county,  and  had  six  children. 
Sarah  married  Samuel  McMahon,  of  Madison  county,  and  moved 
to  Missouri;  they  had  seven  children.  Susan  married  William 
Woods,  of  Madison  county,  and  went  to  Missouri,  where  they  have 
a  large  number  of  descendants.  Elizabeth  married  John  Martin, 
of  Madison  county,  and  had  four  sons;  her  second  husband  was  a 
Mr.  Heathman.  Woodson  married  Mary  Green,  of  Madison  county, 
and  had  seven  children;  the  family  removed  to  Putnam  county,  In¬ 
diana.  Richard  married  a  Miss  Gordon,  of  Madison  county,  and  left 
issue.  Lucy  married  Thomas  S.  lironston,  of  Madison  county,  and 
had  ten  children.  Thomas  S.  Bronston  was  the  father  of  Thomas  S. 
Bronston  who  was  Secretary  of  State  of  Kentucky  during  Governor 
James  B.  McCreary's  administration,  and  grandfather  of  Hon. 
Charles  S.  Bronston,  of  Lexington,  Ivy.,  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers 
of  Kentucky,  and  for  many  years  Commonwealth's  Attorney  for  the 
Lexington  District.  Henrietta  Bronston,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  S. 
Bronston  and  Lucy  Clark,  married  Dr.  Robert  Cameron  Chenault. 
Robert  never  married.  Mary  married  a  Mr.  Webster,  of  Madison 
county,  and  had  several  children.  One  of  their  daughters  married 
a  son  of  Dr.  Miller,  of  Richmond,  Ivy. 

8.  MARY  MULLINS  married  Lewis  Gillispie,  of  Madison 
county,  Ivy.,  but  had  no  children.  She  lived  to  be  more  than  ninety 
years  old. 

9.  ELIZABETH  MULLINS,  second  daughter  of  Matthew  Mul¬ 
lins  and  Mary  Maupin,  his  wife,  married  William  Chenault,  in  Albe¬ 
marle  county,  Virginia,  in  1770.  (See  “The  Chenault  Family,” 
Chapter  X.) 


CHAPTER  XII 


THE  CAMERON  FAMILY. 

The  records  of  that  branch  of  the  Cameron  family  pertaining 
to  this  genealogical  sketch  has  been  very  indifferently  preserved,  so 
far  as  is  known.  The  family  tradition  has  always  been  that  the 
first  of  this  branch  of  the  family  in  this  country  was  Robert  Camer¬ 
on,  who  was  born  in  Inverness  Shire,  Scotland,  about  1720,  and  fol¬ 
lowed  the  fortunes  of  Prince  Charles  Edward  Stuart,  the  “Young 
Pretender,”  in  his  almost  successful  effort,  in  1745,  to  establish  his 
claims  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain.  His  Chieftain  was  Lochiel, 
who  has  been  rendered  famous  in  Campbell's  celebrated  poem, 
“Lochiel’s  Warning.”  After  the  disastrous  defeat  at  the  battle  of 
Culloden,  Robert  Cameron  fled  to  America.  He  landed  in  Connecti¬ 
cut,  where  he  married  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  had 
several  children,  but  there  is  no  account  of  any  of  them  except  his 
son  Robert.  This  second  Robert  Cameron  married  Sarah  Tiffin,  of 
Connecticut,  of  Puritan  descent,  some  of  her  ancestors  having 
“come  over  in  the  Mayflower;”  and  she  claimed  to  be  closely  re¬ 
lated  to  Ethan  Allen,  of  Revolutionary  fame.  She  died  in  Newport, 
Ky.,  some  years  ago,  at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred  and  one 
years. 

The  children  of  Robert  Cameron  and  Sarah  Tiffin,  his  wife, 
were  eight  in  number — Robert,  Joseph,  William,  James,  Martha, 
Sarah,  Emily  and  Charlotte.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  them  were  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  to  which  State  their  parents  had  removed  from  Con¬ 
necticut  soon  after  their  marriage,  settling  first  in  Northumberland 
county  and  afterwards  in  Crawford  county.  They  were  the  first 
white  family  to  settle  in  Crawford  county,  according  to  tradition. 
After  the  death  of  the  father,  the  widow  and  children  settled  in 


12S 


TIIE  CAMERON  FAMILY. 


Kentucky,  and  most  of  the  children  afterwards  went  to  Ohio,  set¬ 
tling  in  Hamilton  and  the  adjoining  counties.  Of  the  children,  only 
the  following  meager  account  has  been  preserved,  to  wit: 

Robert  died  unmarried. 

Joseph  probably  did  not  marry,  and  there  is  no  account  of  him. 

William  established  the  Lebanon  Star,  at  Lebanon,  Ohio,  and 
the  paper  has  now  been  published  continuously  for  nearly  eighty 
years.  One  of  his  sons  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Indianapolis 
Sentinel. 

James  established  a  newspaper  (The  Home  Telegraph)  in  Ham¬ 
ilton,  Ohio,  which,  it  is  stated,  is  still  published.  His  son,  Anderson 
Chenault  Cameron,  was  an  officer  of  the  Ohio  Volunteer  troops  dur¬ 
ing  the  Civil  War,  at  the  close  of  which  struggle  he  was  given  a 
position  in  the  Post  Office  Department  at  Washington,  where  he 
compiled  and  edited  the  Postal  Guide  until  his  death.  Another  son, 
William  Cameron,  was  a  captain  in  an  Ohio  regiment. 

Martha  married  a  Mr.  Massey,  and  had  two  children,  Charles 
and  John.  Of  John  there  is  no  account,  but  for  a  number  of  years 
Charles  Massey  has  been  one  of  the  chief  elders  of  the  Shaker  com¬ 
munity  at  Union  Village,  Ohio. 

Emily  married  Anderson  Chenault,  of  Madison  county,  Ken¬ 
tucky.  (See  “The  Chenault  Family,”  Chapter  X.) 

Of  Charlotte  nothing  is  now  known. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  BIIOOMHALL  FAMILY. 

The  Broomhall  family  originated  in  England,  where  it  is  still 
numerously  represented,  its  members  being  generally  people  of 
standing  and  responsibility,  socially  and  financially.  The  name 
of  the  family  is  one  derived  from  “place,”  as  the  philologists  would 
say.  That  is,  some  manor  called  Broomhall,  or  Broome  Hall,  gave 
the  name  to  the  family  owning  or  occupying  it  at  the  time  when 
English  families  began  to  assume  surnames.  And  the  family,  in 
its  turn,  afterwards  gave  names  to  various  places,  as.  for  instance, 
there  are  now  villages  called  Broomhall  in  Surrey,  Worcestershire, 
Shropshire  and  Cheshire;  as  is  also  Lord  Elgin’s  seat  in  Scotland. 
The  city  of  Sheffield  has  a  Broomhall  Church,  Broomhall  Park, 
Broomhall  Street,  and  Broomhall  Lane.  Broomhall  is  also  the 
designation  of  various  other  localities  and  places  throughout  Eng¬ 
land. 

The  name  Broomhall,  like  all  other  English  names,  has  un¬ 
dergone  many  variations.  Some  of  its  variants  are  Broomall, 
Bramall,  Brummell,  Bromhall,  Bromall,  Bramhall,  Brammell. 
Broomwell  and  Brumall. 

In  England,  Broomhall  is  an*  armigerous  family,  and  while 
the  coat  armor  of  the  several  branches  of  the  family  differ  as  to 
minor  details,  there  is  no  marked  difference  between  any  of  them 
as  to  essentials.  To  Mr.  John  Broomhall,  J.  I\,  of  Beerscroft,  Sur¬ 
biton,  County  Surrey  (very  near  “Twickenham  Ferry”),  thanks  are 
due  for  a  copy  of  the  coat  of  arms  of  that  branch  of  the  Broom¬ 
hall  family  from  which  Mrs.  Corinna  Broomhall  Quisenberry  has 
most  probably  descended.  It  is  described  technically  as  follows, 
viz: 


130 


THIS  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


“A  lion  rampant,  or;  tail  forked.  Crest:  a  lion  rampant,  or.” 

The  arms  of  the  Bromlmlls,  of  Cheshire  and  London  are: 
“Sable,  a  lion  rampant,  or;  armed  and  langued,  gules.  Crest:  a 
lion  passant,  or;  on  the  shoulder  a  crescent  upon  a  crescent  for  dif¬ 
ference.” 

The  arms  of  the  Bromlialls  of  Levington,  Bedfordshire,  are: 
“Sable,  a  lion  rampant,  or.  Crest:  a  dcmi-lion,  or,  holding  between 
the  paws  a  cross  crosslet  titchee,  sable.” 

Concerning  the  Broomhalls  of  England,  Squire  John  Broom- 
hall,  of  Beerscroft,  writes  (December  1,  1888)  as  follows: 

“The  earliest  account  which  l  have  of  my  family  is  March  7, 
1385,  just  three  hundred  and  three  years  ago  (vide  the  Early  Chron¬ 
icles  of  Shrewsbury,  page  305,  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Shrop¬ 
shire  Archiological  Society),  where  it  is  stated,  inter  alia,  that  on 
that  date  John  Broomhall  and  his  two  men  were  all  three  drowned 
while  coming  down  the  river  Severn.  The  next  is  in  the  same 
book  (sic)  234,  when,  in  1747,  John  Broomhall  took  part  in  an 
election  for  a  member  of  Parliament.  It  is  stated,  inter  alia,  in 
volume  8  of  the  same  history,  that  the  name  of  Thomas  Broomhal! 
was  affixed  to  the  Subsidy  Roll  in  the  Castle  Ward,  in  the  thir¬ 
teenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  1571.  A  few  years 
ago  I  printed  memorials  of  my  mother’s  family,  which  I  have  sent 
to  you  by  post,  in  which  you  will  see  (pages  13  and  14)  that  a  John 
Bromlnill  sided  with  Charles  I  in  lfi45-’50. 

“My  grandfather  had  two  sons,  both  born  in  Shrewsbury,  and 
baptized  at  St.  Mary’s  Church,  in  that  town.  The  eldest  son,  John, 
died  unmarried  in  1830.  My  father,  the  second  son,  was  named 
James  Broomhall,  and  I  was  baptized  John,  after  my  uncle.  As 
my  grandfather  died  in  1798,  when  my  father  was  only  two  years 
old,  the  latter  never  had  any  reliable  information  as  to  the  geneal¬ 
ogy  of  the  family.  I  have  often  resolved  to  go  to  Shrewsbury  and 
search  the  records,  but  have  never  done  so,  and  now  I  think  I  am 
too  old  for  the  purpose. 

“The  common  way  of  pronouncing  the  name  is  to  drop  the  ‘li;’ 
the  polite  way  is  to  sound  it,  and  that  accounts,  no  doubt,  for  the 
change,  there  being  many  of  the  family  who  drop  the  ‘IT  in  spell 
ing  their  names. 


THE  BROOM II ALL  FAMILY. 


131 


“I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  there  is  a  very  close  con¬ 
nection  between  the  American  and  the  English  Broomhalls,  be¬ 
cause  the  name  is  rare,  and  not  like  Brown,  Jones,  or  Smith;  but, 
owing  to  tin*  death  of  my  grandfather  in  1798 — now  ninety  years 
ago — I  have  no  certain  proof.  John  Broomliall,  who  fought  for 
Charles  I  in  1645,  no  doubt  was  a  churchman;  but,  of  course,  1 
cannot  speak  for  the  others.” 

Squire  Broomliall  stated  in  a  subsequent  letter  that  lie  had 
seen  documents  signed  by  his  grandfather,  some  of  which  were 
signed  ‘‘Broomliall”  and  others  “Bromhall.”  He  seemed  to  use 
the  two  spellings  of  t lie  name  interchangeably. 

Squire  Broomhall’s  son  is  now  (1897)  editor  of  the  Liverpool 
Corn  Trade  News. 


THE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY  IN  AMERICA. 

It  appears  that  there  are  at  least  two  different  branches  of  the 
Broomliall  family  in  America,  the  one  coming  about  1682  and  the 
other  in  1739,  both  coming  from  England  and  both  settling  in 
Pennsylvania. 

The  genealogy  of  that  branch  of  the  Broomliall  family  to 
which  Mrs.  Corinna  Broomliall  Quisenberry  belongs  is  almost 
complete  since  its  advent  into  America.  That  this  is  the  fact  is 
due  to  the  intelligence  and  remarkable  memory  of  Mr.  William 
P.  Broomliall,  of  Spencer  Station,  Ohio,  who,  it  seems,  has  always 
taken  a  great  interest  in  family  matters,  and  who  has  developed 
a  wonderful  talent  for  keeping  unconfused  in  his  mind  the  intri¬ 
cacies  and  complications  of  genealogical  ramifications.  He  lias 
personal  knowledge  of  all  the  later  genealogical  history  of  the 
family;  and  his  traditions  concerning  the  earlier  members  and 
general  ions  of  il  lie  had  from  his  father,  who,  in  i i is  turn,  had 
them  direct  from  the  original  John  Broomliall,  who  was  the  first 
of  this  branch  of  the  Broomliall  family  to  settle  in  America,  and 
he  came  in  1739. 

This  John  Broomliall  was  born  in  England  in  1726,  and  when 
he  was  a  lad  some  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old  his  mother,  then  a 
widow,  left  his  native  place,  the  name  of  which  is  now  unknown, 


132 


TIIE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


and  took  wliat  is  known  in  England  as  a  “three-life  lease”  of  a 
property  only  a  few  miles  inland  from  the  port  of  Bristol.  The 
“three  life  lease”  is  a  lease  which  is  to  run  during  the  lives  of 
three  persons,  who  must  be  nominated  in  the  bond.  One  bright 
Saturday  morning  in  the  year  1739  John  Broomhall,  then  an  active 
and  intelligent  lad  nearly  thirteen  years  old,  got  leave  of  his 
mother  to  walk  into  Bristol  to  see  the  ocean  and  the  shipping. 
When  he  reached  the  wharves  the  captain  of  one  of  the  ships  lying 
there  enticed  him  on  board  the  vessel  and  entertained  him  highly 
until  late  in  the  afternoon;  and  before  the  boy  was  aware  of  it,  the 
ship  had  sailed  and  was  out  at  sea,  and  he  was,  of  course,  unable 
to  return  to  his  home.  This  kidnaping  game  was  constantly  played 
in  those  days  by  unscrupulous  and  conscienceless  “sea  captains,” 
who  found  in  it  a  source  of  great  profit;  and  it  is  to  this  practice 
that  the  United  States  now  owes  many  of  its  best  people  and 
families. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  ship  in  America  young  Broomhall's 
services  for  seven  years  were  sold  in  Pennsylvania  or  Delaware  to 
a  Quaker  named  Paynter  (a  pious,  God-fearing  man)  to  “pay  for 
his  passage.”  When  we  consider  that  his  “passage”  was  thrust 
upon  him  by  fraud,  sorely  against  his  inclination  and  will,  the 
ironical  humor  of  selling  seven  years  of  his  life  to  pay  for  it  seems 
to  fall  but  little  short  of  the  diabolical.  However,  the  boy  was  of 
approved  character  and  good  pluck,  and  rose  superior  to  the  op¬ 
pressions  that  were  heaped  upon  him.  His  descendants,  a  frank 
and  manly  race,  have  all  borne  the  impress  of  his  sterling  integrity 
and  character. 

John  Broomhall  was  married  in  1751  in  Chester  county,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  where  he  was  then  settled,  and  afterwards  continued  to 
live.  The  name  of  his  wife  has  not  descended.  He  had  been  a 
communicant  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  old  country,  and 
continued  in  that  faith  in  the  new.  He  raised  four  sons:  John, 
Thomas,  Enos  and  James,  of  whom  Thomas  and  James  were  Epis¬ 
copalians,  and  John  and  Enos  were  Quakers. 

The  generations  of  his  sons  are  as  follows: 


THE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


133 


1.  JOHN  BROOMHALL — 

Was  born  June  10,  1752,  and  died  March  17,  1835.  The  name  of 
his  wife  is  not  known.  He  left  four  sons:  John,  Jacob,  Harlan  and 
Eli. 

John  Broomliall  was  born  August  3,  1777,  and  died  December 
27,  1853.  In  1800  he  married  Phoebe  Webb  (who  died  in  1826), 
daughter  of  Thomas  Webb,  a  Pennsylvania  Quaker,  and  they  left 
Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  Belmont  county,  Ohio,  in  1817.  Their 
children  were:  William,  John,  Webb,  Orphah,  Minerva,  Harlan 
and  Hannah.  John  Broomliall  was  married  a  second  time  to 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  McDonald  (nee  Smith),  who  survived  him  and  re¬ 
moved  to  Illinois  after  his  death,  taking  his  family  record  with 
her,  as  is  believed.  Of  the  children  of  John  Broomliall  and  Phoebe 
Webb,  his  wife — 

John  Broomliall  died  young. 

William  Broomliall  died  a  few  years  ago  at  an  advanced  age, 
in  Clinton  county,  Ohio.  Among  his  children  were  Phoebe,  Mary, 
Webb,  James,  John  and  George.  The  two  last  named  served  as 
soldiers  in  the  Civil  War. 

Minerva  Broomliall  married  a  man  named  Price,  and  died  in 
1872.  They  had  several  children. 

Harlan  Broomliall  died  at  McConnellsville,  Ohio,  a  few  years 
ago,  of  heart  disease. 

Orphah  Broomliall  died  young. 

Hannah  Broomliall  married  Eli  Walker,  of  Wilmington. 
Ohio.  Their  children  were  :  (1)  Harlan  Walker,  a  handsome 

and  genial  gentleman  and  successful  business  man.  He  served  in 
the  late  war,  and  was  prominent  in  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
and  Masonic  circles.  He  was  for  many  years  a  druggist  in  Wilming¬ 
ton,  where  he  died  Feb.  15,  1896.  He  married  Samantha  Deaking, 
and  had  one  child — William.  (2)  William  Webb  Walker,  who  is  mar¬ 
ried  and  has  four  children — Laura,  Josephine,  Emma  and  Minnie. 
(3)  Lydia  Ann  Walker,  married,  and  has  issue.  (4)  Mary  Eliza 
Walker,  who  married  Thomas  Hunt,  and  had  three  children — Clif¬ 
ton,  Harry  and  Corinna. 

Webb  Broomliall  was  born  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania, 
November  19,  1815,  and  died  in  Ohio,  November  10,  1881.  He  was  an 


134 


THE  BKOOMIIALL  FAMILY. 


ardent  Republican  in  politics,  and  a  st  ill  more  ardent  Methodist  in 
religion,  a  man  of  tine  character,  large  brain,  strict  morality  and 
great  kindness  of  heart.  He  was,  withal,  a  man  of  no  mean  literary 
ability  in  prose  and  poetical  composition,  and  his  mind  was  also 
of  an  inventive  turn,  and  he  patented  several  inventions  which 
were  quite  successful.  He  was  about  two  years  old  when  his 
father  and  family  left  Pennsylvania  and  went  to  Ohio,  settling 
in  Belmont  county  (where  all  the  Broomhalls  first  settled  in  Ohio). 
Webb  Broomhall  married  first  Mary  Ann  Shepherd,  of  Clinton 
county,  Ohio,  where  he  was  then  living,  December  8,  1842,  and 
by  her  he  had  two  children,  Franklin  Shepherd  and  Charles  Webb. 
Franklin  Shepherd  Broomhall  was  born  July  16,  1846,  married 
Caroline  Haines  in  Wilmington,  Ohio,  on  October  24,  1872,  and 
they  had  one  child,  a  son  named  Earl,  born  August  6,  1875,  died 
August  25,  1876.  Franklin  S.  Broomhall  has  been  for  many  years 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  successful  business  men  of  Wilming¬ 
ton,  Ohio,  and  almost  from  infancy  has  been  an  active  member  of 
the  Methodist  church.  Charles  Webb  Broomhall  was  born  August 
9,  1850,  was  married  to  Miss  Lorena  Nitchman,  of  Urbana,  Ohio, 
in  the  fall  of  1870,  and  they  have  had  three  children — Edith  May, 
Edgar  Fenton,  and  Florence.  He  is  now  living  in  St.  Louis,  Mis¬ 
souri,  where  his  daughter  Edith  May  was  married  October  8,  1896, 
to  August  Busch,  of  St.  Louis.  On  August  19,  1855,  Webb  Broom 
hall  was  again  married;  this  time  to  Adelaide  Finkle,  a  Canadian 
by  birth  and  a  Tory,  or  “United  Empire  Loyalist”  by  ancestry. 
They  were  married  in  Wilmington,  Ohio,  where  they  were  both 
then  living;  and  of  this  union  were  born  four  children:  Addison 
Finkle  Broomhall,  born  July  22,  1856;  Miley  Fisher  Broomhall, 
born  October  22,  1857,  and  died  October  27.  1857;  Comma  Broom¬ 
hall,  born  October  3,  1858,  and  Cassius  Haven  Broomhall,  born 
October  1,  1860,  and  died  April  4,  1862.  Addison  Finkle  Broom¬ 
hall  was  married  December  25,  1882,  to  Estella  Baird  (daughter 
of  Davis  Baird  and  Margaret  Murphy,  his  wife),  and  they  have  two 
children,  Baird  Broomhall,  born  November  20,  1884,  and  Corinna 
Adelaide  Broomhall,  born  June  16,  1887.  Addison  Finkle  Broom¬ 
hall  is  now  (1897)  one  of  the  most  intellectual,  prominent  and  suc¬ 
cessful  lawyers  of  Troy,  Ohio;  a  poet  of  recognized  ability,  and  an 


THE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


135 


orator  of  renown  and  great  eloquence.  Corinna  Broomliall,  the  only 
daughter  of  Webb  Broomliall  and  Adelaide  Finkle,  his  wife,  mar¬ 
ried  Anderson  Chenault  Quisenberry,  of  Winchester,  Kentucky,  and 
they  have  had  four  children.  (See  Chapter  VIII,  “James  Francis 
Quisenberry  and  his  descendants.”) 

Jacob  Broomliall  was  born  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania, 
on  May  4,  1782,  and  married,  March  7,  1807,  Orphah  Webb,  a  sister 
of  Phoebe  Webb,  who  married  his  brother  John,  above.  He  set 
tied  in  Ohio  in  1811),  and  died  there  July  31,  1861.  He  had  ten 
children:  Albert,  Harlan,  Thomas,  Bayard,  William  1*.,  Jacob, 
Sarah,  Elizabeth,  Mary  and  Phoebe,  all  of  whom  are  now  de¬ 
ceased  except  Elizabeth,  Phoebe,  and  William  P.,  and  William  P. 
Broomliall  is  the  only  son  of  Jacob  Broomliall  who  ever  had  a 
son.  He  was  born  in  1826  and  married  Rachel  Redd  on  November 
26,  1850,  who  died  July  23,  1883,  and  they  had  three  sons — Thomas, 
John  and  Albert. 

Harlan  Broomliall  left  Zanesville,  Ohio,  mysteriously  in  the 
fall  of  1816,  and  was  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

Eli  Broomliall,  born  July  3,  1706,  died  September  9,  1878, 
leaving  four  sons  and  four  daughters. 


2.  THOMAS  BROOMHALL— 

Was  a  soldier  under  General  William  Henry  Harrison  in  the  War 
of  1812,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames.  He  left  two 
sons,  John  and  Joshua.  The  latter  had  a  son  Thomas,  and  his 
son,  William  Broomliall,  is  now  living  at  Yorklin,  Delaware. 


3.  ENOS  BROOMHALL — 

Had  a  son  named  Jehu  Broomliall,  who  settled  in  Belmont 
county,  Ohio,  and  also  a  son  named  Eli  Broomliall,  born  July  3, 
1796,  died  September  9,  1876,  who  left  four  sons  and  several  daugh¬ 
ters.  His  sons,  named  Lindley,  Isaac  N.  and  Eli  are  now  living 
at  Lithopolis,  Fairfield  county,  Ohio. 


136 


THE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


4.  JAMES  BROOMHALL — 

Never  moved  to  Ohio,  but  remained  in  Chester  county,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  ancestor  of  some  of  the  Broom- 
halls  now  living  in  Chester  and  Delaware  counties,  in  that  State. 


OTHER  BROOMHALLS. 

Mr.  C.  D.  M.  Broomhall,  of  Media,  Delaware  county,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  writes,  under  date  of  December  14,  1885: 

“My  father's  name  was  John  Broomhall,  and  he  was  born  in 
1791.  1  was  the  youngest  of  five  children  by  a  second  wife. 

By  his  first  wife,  he  had  one  son,  who  died  twenty -five  years  ago, 
leaving  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  I  have 
two  sisters  living,  and  we  are  all  that  are  now  living  of  the  family. 
My  father  and  mother  both  died  when  I  was  a  child.  I  have  bin 
an  indistinct  recollection  of  my  father.  I  was  raised  by  an  uncle 
and  aunt,  on  my  mother's  side,  but  when  I  was  a  boy  eleven  or 
twelve  years  old  an  old  lady  who  lived  in  the  family  used  to 
describe  to  me  my  grandfather.  She  said  he  wore  a  queue,  plaited 
and  hanging  down  his  back.  I  have  forgotten  his  name.  When  I 
was  about  fifteen  years  of  age  a  land  speculator  came  along  and  had 
records  of  160  acres  of  land  upon  which  warrants  of  my  father's  had 
been  located.  I  have  been  thinking  it  was  in  Missouri,  in  Adams 
county,  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  river,  but  I  find  there  is  no 
Adams  county  in  Missouri  on  the  Mississippi  river;  but  there  is 
an  Adams  county  in  Illinois,  across  the  river,  opposite  to  Mis¬ 
souri;  so  it  was  probably  located  in  Illinois.  This  land  warrant 
was  for  services  rendered  in  the  War  of  1812  with  England. 
Years  ago  I  heard  of  relatives  on  the  Broomhall  side  in  Chester 
county,  Pennsylvania.  My  parents  dying  when  I  was  young  left 
it  in  the  dark  for  me.  I  have  heard  my  half-brother,  who  died 
twenty-five  years  ago,  speak  of  some  relatives  we  had  in  Chester 
county,  Pennsylvania,  but  I  never  met  with  any.  We  children 
sold  our  rights  to  the  speculator,  and  that  is  the  last  we  ever 
heard  of  the  land.  *  *  *  I  have  an  idea  that  all  the  ‘Broomalls’ 

are  of  the  Broomhall  family.  I  think  ‘Broomhall’  is  the  old  origi¬ 
nal  name.” 


THE  BROOMHALL  FAMILY. 


137 


Hon.  John  M.  Broomall,  of  Media,  Delaware  county,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  wlio  represented  his  district  in  Congress  several  terms, 
writes  under  date  of  December  10,  1885: 

“.My  family  name,  according  to  tradition,  was  ‘Broomall,’  but 
1  think  the  change  from  ‘Broomhall’  was  made  in  England.  My 
great-grandfather,  John  Broomall,  who  in  1082  settled  within  a 
few  miles  of  where  I  now  live,  signed  his  name  as  witness  to  a 
marriage  certificate  in  1690,  spelling  it  without  the  ‘h.’  He  was 
a  young  man  when  he  came,  and  I  have  supposed  he  made  the 
change  for  convenience  in  writing  about  the  time  he  came  to  this 
country.  His  son,  John  Broomall,  married  Anne  Lewis;  their 
son,  Daniel  Broomall,  married  Martha  Talbott;  their  son,  John 
Broomall  (who  was  born  in  1760)  married  Sarah  Martin,  and  I  am 
the  youngest  child  of  that  marriage.  I  was  born  in  1816.  I  have 
two  sons  practicing  law  in  Chester,  Pennsylvania,  William  B.  and 
Henry  L.,  and  a  daughter  practicing  medicine  in  Philadelphia — 
Annie  E.  Broomall,  professor  in  the  Philadelphia  Woman's  College. 

I  had  a  son,  John  M.  Broomall,  jr.,  also  a  member  of  the  bar,  who 
died  three  years  ago,  leaving  three  children.  There  is  a  family 
named  Broomhall  in  this  county,  several  generations  old,  and 
now  nearly  extinct,  there  being  but  one  member  of  the  same  left — 
an  old  bachelor  member  of  the  bar  in  this  town — Charles  D.  M. 
Broomhall.  I  have  shown  him  your  letter,  but  he  can  not  give 
any  information  except  that  his  ancestors  came  from  England 
early,  and  he  thinks  he  is  the  only  male  descendant  of  them  left. 

I  have  made  several  attempts  to  trace  a  connection  between  his 
family  and  mine,  in  this  county,  but  have  failed.  I  am  assured  he 

is  a  relation  of  mine,  but  not  a  descendant  of  the  same  immigrant.” 

*  *  * 


The  “Muster  Rolls  of  Virginia  in  the  War  of  1812,”  show  that 
Pleasant  Broomhall,  of  Mecklenburg  county,  Virginia,  served  in 
that  war  in  Captain  William  Bircliett's  company  of  the  22d  Vir¬ 
ginia  regiment.  This  would  indicate  a  Virginia  branch  of  the 
Broomhall  family,  but  it  has  not  been  possible  to  trace  it. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 

Dr.  George  Finkle  (or  Fiuckel)  was  born  in  Prussia,  probably 
about  1720,  and  came  to  America  about  1740  to  1750,  and  engaged 
at  first  in  fur  trading  with  the  Indians.  After  his  marriage  (the 
name  of  his  wife  is  not  known)  he  settled  in  Dutchess  county,  New 
York,  and  engaged  in  farming  and  was  prosperous.  He  had  two 
estates  in  New  York,  one  at  Little  Nine  Partners  and  one  at  Great 
Nine  Partners.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  war  he 
sided  with  the  King,  and  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country.  His 
lands  were  confiscated  by  the  Americans,  or  “Rebels,”  and  he  went 
to  Quebec,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred  about 
the  time  of  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  There  is  now  no 
record  of  any  of  his  children  except  his  three  sons,  Henry,  George 
and  John;  but  it  is  believed  that  he  had  other  sons  who  sided  with 
the  colonies  and  fought  for  American  independence.  Dr.  George 
Finkle's  youngest  son,  John,  remained  with  him  in  Quebec,  and 
never  entered  the  army,  presumably  on  account  of  being  too  young. 
The  other  two  sons,  Henry  and  George,  both  served  the  King  in 
the  army. 

Soon  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  Henry  Finkle,  then  about 
sixteen  years  old,  enlisted  at  Quebec  in  the  Engineer  Department 
of  the  British  army,  in  which  he  served  some  time  and  learned  the 
use  of  tools,  etc.,  which  knowledge  subsequently  proved  to  be  of 
very  great  use  to  him.  On  the  completion  of  his  term  of  service  in 
the  Engineer  Department  he  joined  the  First  Battalion  of  the  <S4th 
Regiment  of  Foot,  the  battalion  being  commanded  by  Major  Jessup 
and  the  regiment  by  Sir  John  Johnson.  George  Finkle  served  in 
I  he  second  battalion  of  this  regiment,  which  was  commanded  by 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


139 


Major  Rogers.  The  nucleus  of  this  regiment  had  originally  been 
recruited  in  North  Carolina,  but  later  the  regiment  was  much  en 
larged,  and  expanded  into  three  battalions  of  five  hundred  men 
each,  and  it  was  tilled  up  with  recruits  enlisted  in  other  colonies, 
but  mostly  in  New  York,  and  finally  it  was  embodied  in  the  line  of 
British  regulars  as  the  84th  Regiment  of  Foot.  It  had  formerly 
been  known  as  the  “King’s  New  York  Royal  Rangers”  and  as  “Sir 
Johnson’s  Regiment;”  but  the  Americans,  or  “Rebels,”  invariably 
called  it  “The  Royal  Greens.” 

At  tin*  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  many  thousands  of 
Americans  who  had  served  the  King  and  who  called  themselves 
“United  Empire  Loyalists,”  found  themselves  generally_sl ripped 
of  everything,  their  property,  in  most  cases,  having  been  confiscated 
by  the  American  Government;  and  even  where  this  was  not  tin* 
case,  it  was  not  personally  safe  for  the  loyalists  to  remain  in  the 
United  States.  When  the  British  evacuated  New  York  many  regi¬ 
ments  of  Americans  who  had  served  the  King  were  carried,  to¬ 
gether  with  their  families,  to  Canada.  The  British  Government, 
to  recoup  these  men  of  their  losses  and  to  requite  them,  in  a  meas¬ 
ure,  for  their  services,  furnished  them  money  and  granted  them 
lands  in  the  then  wholly  unsettled  and  unbroken  wilderness  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  in  Upper  Canada,  which  they  and  their  de¬ 
scendants  in  the  course  of  a  hundred  years  have  made  to  blossom 
as  a  rose,  and  have  developed  into  one  of  the  happiest  and  most 
prosperous  communities  in  the  world. 

Canniff,  the  historian  of  Upper  Canada,  says:  “It  has  been  gen¬ 
erally  estimated  that  at  the  close  of  the  struggle,  and  as  a  result, 
there  were  distributed  upon  the  shores  of  Canada  about  ten  thou¬ 
sand  American  loyalists.  *  *  *  The  following  were  the  prin¬ 

cipal  corps  and  regiments  of  loyalists  who  took  part  in  the  war 
against  the  rebels,  and  who  were  mainly  Americans,  viz:  The 
King’s  Rangers,  the  Queen’s  Rangers,  the  Royal  Fencible  Amer¬ 
icans,  the  New  York  Volunteers,  the  King's  American  Regiment, 
the  Prince  of  Wales’  American  Volunteers,  the  Maryland  Loyalists, 
DeLancy's  Battalions,  the  Second  American  Regiment,  the  Carolina 
King’s  Rangers,  the  South  Carolina  Royalists,  the  North  Carolina 
Highland  Regiment,  the  King’s  American  Dragoons,  the  Loyal 


140 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


American  Regiment,  the  American  Legion,  the  New  Jersey  Volun¬ 
teers,  the  British  Legion,  (lie  Loyal  Foresters,  the  Orange  Rangers, 
the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists,  the  Guides  and  Pioneers,  the  North 
Carolina  Volunteers,  the  Georgia  Loyalists,  and  the  West  Chester 
Volunteers.  These  corps  were  all  commanded  by  Colonels  or  Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonels,  and  as  DeLancy’s  Battalions  and  the  New  Jersey 
Volunteers  consisted  of  three  battalions  each,  there  were  twenty- 
eight.  To  these  must  be  added  the1  Loyal  New  Englanders,  the  As¬ 
sociated  Loyalists,  Wentworth’s  Volunteers,  and  seventeen  com¬ 
panies  of  New  York  Loyal  Militia,  commanded  by  Colonel  Archi¬ 
bald  Hamilton.” 

Dr.  Canniff's  History  of  Upper  Canada  is  a  very  able  and  very 
interesting  work,  but  it  contains  the  expression  of  a  good  deal  of  in¬ 
herited  prejudice  against  the  Americans,  some  of  which  may  be 
observed  in  the  following  quotation : 

“The  United  Empire  Loyalist  was  one  who  advocated  or  wished 
to  have  maintained  the  unity  of  the  British  empire;  who  felt  as 
much  a  Briton  in  the  Colony  of  America  as  if  he  were  in  old  Eng¬ 
land;  who  desired  to  perpetuate  British  rule  in  America.  *  *  * 

This  class  became,  as  the  tide  of  rebellion  gained  strength  and  vio¬ 
lence,  exceedingly  obnoxious  to  those  in  rebellion  against  their  King 
and  country.  *  *  *  Many  of  this  noble  class  relinquished  com¬ 

fortable  homes  rather  than  live  under  an  alien  hag — they  greatly 
preferred  to  enter  a  wilderness  and  hew  out  a  new  home.  They 
would  live  anywhere,  endure  any  toil,  undergo  any  privation, so  long 
as  they  were  in  the  King’s  dominion  and  the  good  old  flag  waved 
over  their  heads  and  their  families.  It  was  oft  declared  that  their 
bones  should  lie  on  the  King’s  soil.  *  *  *  Elsewhere  it  has  been 
shown  how  cruel  were  the  persecutions  made  against  the  ‘Tories,’ 
how  relentless  the  spirit  of  vengeful  ness.  All  this,  it  may  be  said 
by  some,  should  be  forgotten — buried  in  the  past  with  the  Whigs 
and  the  Tories,  both  of  whom  committed  errors  and  outrages.  Under 
certain  circumstances  this  would  be  the  proper  course — the  course 
indicated  by  the  great  Ruler;  but,  regarding  the  United  States  in 
the  light  derived  from  her  statesmen,  orators  and  press,  it  cannot 
for  a  moment  be  allowed.  Until  the  descendants  of  those  who  suc¬ 
cessfully  rebelled  in  1770  cease  to  villify  our  fathers,  until  they  can 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


141 


find  other  subject  matter  for  their  Fourth  of  July  orations  than  foul 
abuse  of  our  country,  uutil  they  can  produce  school-books  which  are 
not  stained  by  unjust  and  dishonest  representations,  and  books  of 
a  religious  nature  which  are  not  marred  by  unchristian,  not  to  say 
untruthful,  statements  respecting  Britain  and  her  colonies,  until 
(lie  ‘Great  Republic’  can  rise  above  the  petty  course  of  perpetuat¬ 
ing  old  feuds,  we  can  not — we,  whose  fathers  suffered— can  not  be 
required  to  shut  our  mouths  and  thereby  seemingly  acquiesce  in 
their  uncharitable  and  malignant  charges  against  United  Empire 
Loyalists.  Washington  was  a  rebel  as  much  as  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  history  will  accord  to  the  latter  a  character  as  honorable  and 
distinguished  as  to  the  former.  Washington  succeeded  against  a 
power  that  put  not  forth  the  gigantic  efforts  which  the  United 
States  did  to  subjugate  fhe  States  over  which  Jefferson  Davis  pre¬ 
sided.  By  the  events  of  fhe  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  we,  the 
descendants  of  those  who  occupied  the  same  relative  position  in  the 
American  Revolution,  feel  it  right  to  be  judged. 

“The  most  of  the  loyalists  were  Americans  by  birth.  *  *  * 

The  great  majority  of  those  who  settled  Upper  Canada  were  from 
the  Provinces  of  New  York,  Pennsjdvania,  and  the  New  England 
States.” 

The  lands  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  were  plotted 
into  townships,  and  the  townships  into  concessions  or  lots,  which 
were  distributed  among  the  old  soldiers.  The  “front  concessions,” 
or  those  abutting  upon  the  lake  or  its  inlets,  were  given  to  officers  or 
favorites,  and  the  concessions  back  of  these  were  given  to  the  less 
favored  ones;  and  even  to  this  day  there  is  a  strong  implication  of 
reproach  in  that  community  in  the  term  “back  concessioner,”  which 
is  applied  to  the  descendants  of  the  original  residents  of  the  back 
concessions,  to  whom  the  term  was  first  applied. 

The  second  township,  now  in  tin*  county  of  Addington,  Ontario, 
was  called  Ernesttown,  in  honor  of  Ernest  Augustus,  the  fourth 
son  of  King  George  III,  and  it  was  allotted  principally  to  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  First  Battalion  of  the  84tli,  or  Sir  John  Johnson's  regi¬ 
ment,  and  it  was  first  settled  by  them  in  tin*  year  1784.  The  town¬ 
ship  fronted  immediately  upon  the  shores  of  the  beautiful  Bay  of 
Quinte,  and  it  was  here  that  Henry  Finkle  was  allotted  a  concession 


142 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


of  laml — lot  G,  “on  the  front.”  He  was  married  on  May  15,  1788,  to 
Lucretia  Bleeeker,  daughter  of  the  loyalist  Colonel  Bleeeker  and 
his  wife,  who  had  been  a  Miss  Myers,  or  Myer.  Colonel  Bleecker’s 
ancestors  were  among  the  first  Dutch  settlers  in  New  York,  and 
were  prominent  in  the  colonial  affairs  of  that  province,  both  under 
the  Dutch  and  the  English  rule.  Colonel  Bleeeker  himself  served 
the  King  during  the  Revolution.  His  wife  (nee  Meyers),  like  himself, 
was  descended  from  the  early  Dutch  or  Knickerbocker  settlers  of 
New  York.  Canniff  says  her  father  and  one  of  her  brothers  served 
in  the  American  army  under  Washington,  but  another  of  her 
brothers,  John  Walter  Meyers,  served  the  King  as  a  captain  in 
Major  Edward  Jessup’s  Corps  of  Loyal  Rangers.  Sabine  says  of 
him:  “He  was  noted  for  enterprise  and  daring,  but  not  for  cruelty 
or  ferocity.”  Canniff  says:  “Captain  Meyers  was  a  bold  man,  with 
limited  education,  but  honest,  and  like  many  others  of  the  Dutch 
loyalists  given  to  great  hospitality.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  mill-build¬ 
ing,  in  trading,  and  in  sailing  batteaux  up  and  down  the  lake.”  On 
one  occasion  during  the  war  he  made,  with  his  men,  a  secret  foray 
within  the  American  lines  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  prisoner  of 
General  Schuyler,  and  vei’y  nearly  succeeded  in  his  purpose.  This 
adventure  gained  him  great  fame  in  his  own  day. 

Colonel  Bleeeker,  who  had  a  front  concession  in  Sidney,  the 
eighth  township,  was  appointed  a  magistrate  there.  Canniff  says: 
“Old  Squire  Bleeeker  was  probably  the  very  first  settler  between 
Trent  and  the  Carrying-Place.  He  was  a  trader  with  the  Indians, 
and  probably  Indian  Agent.  At  all  events  he  was  a  man  of  consid¬ 
erable  authority  among  them.”  His  wife  survived  him  and  married 
for  her  second  husband  a  McKenzie,  and  had  by  him  four  children: 
Dr.  Colin  McKenzie,  Duncan  McKenzie,  William  McKenzie,  and 
Sallie  McKenzie,  who  married  a  Mr.  Berdan,  of  Amherst  Island. 

George  Finkle  settled  on  the  front  in  the  third  township,  Fred- 
ericksburgh,  and  was  killed  soon  after  his  settlement  by  falling 
through  a  temporary  bridge.  He  was  never  married.  John  Finkle, 
the  youngest  of  the  three  brothers,  also  settled  on  the  front  in  this 
township,  but  of  his  descendants  nothing  has  been  learned. 

Henry  Finkle,  who  married  Lucretia  Bleeeker,  was  a  most  use¬ 
ful  man  in  the  community  in  which  he  settled.  Having  learned  the 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


143 


use  of  tools  in  the  Engineer  Department  of  the  British  army,  he 
now  put  his  skill  to  great  use  in  cutting  lumber  with  his  whipsaw 
and  crosscut  saw,  and  building  for  his  own  use  the  first  frame 
house  ever  erected  in  Upper  Canada  and  the  first  school  house,  the 
first  Masonic  Hall,  and  the  first  brewery  and  distillery  as  well.  He 
erected  the  school-house  and  the  Masonic  Hall  on  his  own  land, 
and  donated  to  the  community  the  school-house,  together  with  a 
dwelling  house  for  the  teacher,  and  the  lodge  building  he  gave  to  his 
Masonic  brethren.  As  he  kept  for  many  years  the  only  tavern  be¬ 
tween  Kingston  and  York  (now  Toronto),  the  brewery  and  distillery 
were  doubt  less  profitable  accessories  to  his  business.  The  first  court 
to  assemble  in  Upper  Canada  sat  in  his  tavern;  the  first  muster  of 
militia  trained  on  his  grounds;  he  built  the  first  wharf  on  the  shores 
of  the  Bay  of  Quinte;  and  Finkle's  Point,  a  place  of  prominence  on 
the  bay,  was  named  in  his  honor.  He  was  the  first  man  in  Upper 
Canada  to  emancipate  his  slaves.  Before  the  advent  of  steamboats 
he  had  owned  and  operated  sailing  vessels  on  the  bay  and  lake;  and 
after  his  death  his  widow  owned  shares  in  the  Frontenac,  the  first 
steamboat  ever  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  was  also  part  owner  in  the 
second,  the  Queen  Charlotte,  which  was  built  and  launched  at 
Finkle’s  wharf  by  her  son-in-law,  Henry  Gildersleeve. 

Henry  Gildersleeve  came  into  Canada  about  a  month  before 
the  Frontenac  was  launched,  in  August,  1816.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  shipbuilder  who  owned  yards  on  the  Connecticut  river,  and  built 
vessels  for  the  New  York  market.  Being  a  skillful  shipwright  he 
assisted  in  finishing  off  the  Frontenac,  and  then  as  master  ship¬ 
builder  assisted  at  the  Charlotte.  During  this  time  Mr.  Gildersleeve 
himself  built  a  packet  named  the  Minerva.  In  building  this  vessel 
he  brought  to  his  assistance  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired  in  his 
father's  yard.  The  result  was  that  when  “she  was  taken  to  King¬ 
ston  to  receive  her  fittings  out,  Captain  Murney  examined  her  in¬ 
side  and  out,  and  particularly  her  mould,  which  exceeded  anything 
lie  had  seen,  and  declared  her  to  be  the  best  craft  that  ever  floated 
in  the  harbor  of  Kingston,  which  afterwards  she  proved  herself  to 
be,  when  plying  bid  ween  Toronto  and  Niagara.” 

At  a  later  date  Mr.  Gildersleeve  superintended  the  building  of 
the  “Sir  James  Kemp,”  at  Finkle’s  Point.  This  was  the  last  built 


144 


THE  FIN  RLE  FAMILY. 


there,  after  which  Mr.  Gildersleeve  commenced  building  at  King¬ 
ston.  Here  were  constructed  the  Barry  (a  lake  boat  with  two  en¬ 
gines,  which  in  its  third  year  of  running  collided  with  the  steamer 
Kingston,  at  night,  and  immediately  sank,  the  passengers  only  be¬ 
ing  saved),  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  New  Era,  and  the  Bay  of 
Quinte.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Gildersleeve's  name  is  asso¬ 
ciated  with  most  of  the  steamers  which  have  plowed  the  waters  of 
the  bay,  first  as  a  skillful  shipwright,  then  commander  and  share¬ 
holder,  and  finally  as  a  successful  proprietor  of  a  shipyard  and 
owner  of  vessels.  Says  one  who  knew  him  long:  “Of  Mr.  Gilder¬ 
sleeve's  business  habits  there  are  numerous  evidences;  for  years 
if  seemed  that  everything  he  touched  turned  to  gold,  hence  the 
wealth  he  left  behind  him;  and  I  can  say  that  during  the  many 
years  I  knew  him  I  never  heard  a  want  of  honest  integrity  laid  to 
his  charge.  He  died  (T  think)  in  the  fall  of  1851,  of  cholera,  much 
lamented  and  greatly  missed." — CannitTs  History  of  Upper  Canada, 
pp.  606,  607.] 

The  following,  published  by  Mr.  Arthur  W.  Moore  in  the  Roch¬ 
ester  (N.  V.)  Sunday  Herald  a  few  years  ago,  is  of  interest  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  Finkles  and  Gildersleeves,  viz: 

“In  speaking  of  the  leading  families  who  have  figured  in  the 
history  of  Canada,  I  can  not  do  better  than  commence  with  the  Gil¬ 
dersleeves.  In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  before  any 
steamboat  had  ploughed  the  waters  of  Lake  Ontario,  the  father  of 
Charles  F.  and  James  Gildersleeve  arrived  in  Kingston  from  New 
York.  He  was  a  famous  shipwright  and  commenced  business  in 
that  line  by  building  schooners.  In  1817  he  superintended  the 
building  of  the  first  steamers  that  were  run  on  the  lake.  They 
were  the  Frontenac  and  Charlotte. 

“Mr.  Gildersleeve  picked  out  a  very  convenient  place  at  which 
to  build  his  vessels;  it  was  called  Pinkie’s  Point,  named  after  a 
wealthy  family  of  that  name  who  owned  the  land  thereabout.  It 
is  sixteen  miles  from  Kingston,  at  what  is  now  known  as  the  village 
of  Bath.  As  this  pretty  place  figures  largely  in  the  development  of 
the  Bay  of  Quinte,  a  few  items  concerning  it  may  be  of  interest. 
Bath  is  situated  in  the  township  of  Ernesttown,  named  after  Prince 
Ernest  Augustus,  eighth  child  of  King  George  III. 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


145 


“If  was  first  settled  in  the  early  spring  of  1784  by  the  soldier 
settlers,  the  first  battalion  called  ‘Jessup’s  corps.’  The  township 
contains  68,044  acres,  nearly  all  of  which  is  excellent  land. 

“It  was  not  long  after  the  settlers  had  been  upon  their  land 
before  the  township  became  tin1  best  cultivated  and  most  wealthy — 
not  alone  around  the  Bay  of  Quinte,  but  in  the  whole  of  western 
Canada. 

“The  richness  of  the  sod  lying  more  immediately  at  the  mouth 
of  the  bay  contributed  to  its  prosperity,  and  a  village,  in  course  of 
time,  sprang  up,  which  rivaled  even  Kingston  itself  in  respect  to 
rapid  increase  of  inhabitants,  the  establishment  of  trade,  building 
of  ships,  and  for  the  presence  of  gentlemen  of  refinement  and  edu¬ 
cation,  and  in  (lie  foundation  of  a  library  and  a  seminary  of  higher 
education.  This  village  was  for  a  long  time  known  as  Ernesttown, 
but  in  time,  after  the  War  of  1812,  it  acquired  the  name  of  Bath, 
probably  after  the  English  town  of  that  name.  Gourley  says  of 
this  place  in  181 1 :  ‘Bath  is  a  city  in  embryo  and  promises  to  be  a 
place  of  considerable  importance.’ 

“The  situation  of  Bath  is  delightful  and  salubrious  and  well 
adapted  for  a  watering-place  for  invalids.  The  drives  around  are 
very  beautiful;  the  fishing  and  sailing  can  not  be  beaten  in  any  part 
of  the  Dominion.  The  village  has  a  very  quaint  look,  the  buildings 
being  for  tin*  most  part  ancient. 

“The  Episcopal  church  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Ontario,  having 
been  built  in  1793.  Surrounding  this  old  edifice  is  a  graveyard  rich 
with  historic  names.  Some  of  the  monuments  and  tombs  are  very 
handsome  and  costly.  About  four  miles  from  the  village  is  the  ruin 
of  an  old  mill,  from  the  windows  of  which  cannon  frowned  during 
the  War  of  1812. 

“The  village  of  Bath  would  have  undoubtedly  grown  to  be  a 
place  of  much  importance  had  theGrandTrunkrailway  been  located 
through  it.  Failing  in  this  it  soon  ceased  to  be  a  rival  of  Kingston, 
and  although  the  senior  Mr.  Gildersleeve  utilized  its  beach  for  ship¬ 
building  he  eventually  operated  in  Kingston,  and  it  was  there  he 
founded  the  great  fortune  that  he  bequeathed  to  his  children.  Bath 
had  the  honor  of  supplying  an  excellent  wife  to  this  pioneer  ship¬ 
builder,  who  was  united  in  marriage  to  Lucretia,  the  daughter  of 


146 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


Squire  Finkle,  of  Finkle’s  Point.  The  best  part  of  Mr.  Gilder- 
sleeve's  life  was  devoted  to  the  development  of  routes  of  transit 
through  (lie  Canadian  lakes,  rivers,  and  canals  long  before  rail¬ 
roads  came  into  operation.  His  services  in  this  capacity  were  in¬ 
strumental  in  developing  the  agricultural  and  commercial  resources 
of  Upper  Canada,  as  it  was  then  called.  The  Bay  of  Quinte  espe¬ 
cially  reaped  great  benefits  from  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  this 
shipbuilder  and  navigator.  The  death  of  Mr.  Gildersleeve  was  a 
great  loss  to  Kingston,  but  his  positions,  both  in  public  and  private 
capacities,  were  ably  filled  by  his  eldest  son,  Overton  S.  Gilder- 
sleeve,  who  at  the  time  of  his  father’s  decease  had  risen  to  the  fore¬ 
most  rank  of  the  legal  profession  and  was  one  of  the  most  popular 
young  barristers  in  Canada.  Inheriting  his  father’s  enterprising 
spirit,  he  had  the  advantages  also  of  the  most  liberal  education  and 
the  culture  to  be  obtained  by  European  travel.  He  was  more  than 
a  good  speaker,  he  was  an  orator,  and  no  man  filled  the  position  of 
chief  magistrate  of  Kingston  more  ably  than  he  did.  He  was  a 
man  universally  beloved,  not  only  for  his  great  talent,  but  for  his 
uniform  courtesy,  benevolence,  and  rectitude,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  his  untimely  death  in  early  life  would  have  been  one  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  Canada.  The  sudden  death  by  apoplexy  of  this 
gifted  young  man  caused  profound  regret  in  Upper  Canada,  and  al¬ 
though  twenty  years  have  well-nigh  passed  since  the  sad  event,  the 
name  of  Overton  Gildersleeve  is  very  fresh  in  the  memories  of  thou- 
sandswho  honored  andlovedhim.  He  married  the  daughter  of  Judge 
Draper,  who  died  before  him.  Occupying  a  similar  position  in  the 
estimation  of  the  public  is  the  brother  of  Overton,  Charles  F.  Gil¬ 
dersleeve,  also  a  barrister.  This  gentleman  has  been  identified  with 
every  movement  for  the  development  of  his  native  city.  Like  his 
father  and  brother,  he  has  been  largely  engaged  in  the  ownership 
of  steam  and  other  vessels  that  ply  upon  the  lakes.  He  is  the  pres¬ 
ent  owner  of  the  steamer  ‘Norseman’  that  runs  between  Port  Hope 
and  Charlotte.  He  has  also  been  very  active  in  many  industrial 
enterprises,  especially  in  the  building  of  the  Kingston  and  Pem¬ 
broke  railroad,  of  which  he  has  been  president  for  a  number  of 
years.  In  politics  he  is  a  reformer  and  consequently  opposed  to 
the  policy  of  Sir  John  A.  MacDonald  and  it  was  no  doubt  due  in  a 
large  measure  to  the  activity  of  Charles  Gildersleeve  that  the  great 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


147 


Tory  leader  was  ousted  from  his  seat  as  M.  P.  for  Kingston.  Mr. 
Gildersleeve  is  a  staunch  friend  of  the  industrial  classes,  is  in  favor 
of  free  trade,  the  overthrow  of  monopolies,  and  a  system  of  govern¬ 
ment  that  will  best  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  what 
is  called  the  ‘bone  and  sinew’  of  the  country.  A  man  of  Charles 
Gildersleeve’s  social  standing  and  commercial  importance  holding 
such  political  principles  is  the  man  for  the  hour,  and  as  he  has 
recently  been  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  Kingston  in  the  Pro¬ 
vincial  Parliament,  it  will  be  strange  indeed  if  the  workingmen 
do  not  elect  him  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Although  Mr.  Gil¬ 
dersleeve  is  a  barrister,  the  silk  gown  has  no  allurements  for  him. 
lie  prefers  the  wide  field  of  business  enterprise,  such  as  the  build¬ 
ing  of  colonization,  railroads,  the  development  of  mining  and  agri¬ 
cultural  regions.  Few  men  are  more  capable  than  lie  of  guiding  the 
financial  affairs  in  great  undertakings,  and  as  many  people  think 
he  will,  in  the  course  of  events,  be  called  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  it  would  not  be  at  all  surprising  if  he  one  day  became, 
as  his  friend  Sir  Richard  Cartwright  did,  minister  of  finance. 

“His  brother  James  P.  Gildersleeve  is  also  a  barrister,  an  aider- 
man  and  a  man  of  enterprise.  Speaking  of  the  Gildersleeves  re¬ 
minds  me  that  Charles  F.  was  mayor  of  Kingston  during  the  official 
visit  of  the  Marquis  of  Lome  and  the  Princess  Louise.” 


HENRY  FINKLE 

Son  of  the  pioneer,  Dr.  George  Finkle,  was  born  in  Dutchess 
county,  New  York,  in  1700,  and  died  in  Ernest  township,  Adding¬ 
ton  county,  Ontario,  on  January  0,  1808.  His  wife,  Lucretia 
Bleecker,  to  whom  lie  was  married  on  May  15,  1788,  died  March  23, 
1850.  They  are  both  buried  in  Kingston,  near  the  grave  of  Sir 
John  A.  McDonald.  Their  children  were  five  in  number — Charlotte, 
George,  Lucretia,  Minerva  and  William. 

CHARLOTTE  FINKLE— 

Married  Solomon  Johns,  who  was  engaged  with  Henry  Gildersleeve 
in  shipbuilding.  Issue. 


148 


THE  PIN  RLE  FAMILY. 


GEORGE  F INKLE— 

Married  Susan  Talbot,  and  their  children  are: 

(1)  Sarah  Finkle,  Avho  married  John  Chapman.  They  live  on 
a  line  farm  near  Rath,  and  have  no  children. 

(2)  Gordon  William  Finkle  (deceased),  who  was  one  of  the 
first  captains  on  the  Bay  of  Quinte.  He  married  Eliza  Harvey 
January  l(i,  1840,  and  had  seven  children;  and  those  surviving  now 
live  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.  They  are  Georgia,  William,  and  Anna. 
Anna  married  Arthur  W.  Moore,  artist  and  editor.  They  have 
three  children,  Georgia,  Cecil,  and  Arthur. 

(3)  Roland  Robinson  Finkle,  who  married  Elizabeth  Morse, 
but  has  no  children.  Sir.  Finkle  is  a  prince  of  good  fellows,  and 
owns  the  old  Finkle  homestead  and  the  wharf  at  Bath. 

(4)  Judge  Henry  Finkle  (deceased),  married,  and  had  but  one 
child,  a  posthumous  son.  He  was  long  postmaster  at  Bath,  but 
moved  to  Fargo,  Dakota,  and  from  thence  to  Moorehead,  where  he 
died  on  September  5,  1890,  only  a  few  months  after  his  marriage. 

(5)  Lueretia  Finkle,  married  Richard  Keyworth,  and  lives 
near  Bath.  Issue. 


LUCRETIA  FINKLE — 

Married  Henry  Gildersleeve,  a  native  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
where  his  father  owned  extensive  shipbuilding  yards  on  the  Con¬ 
necticut  river.  M ore  extensive  reference  is  made  to  Sir.  Gilder¬ 
sleeve  in  a  preceding  paragraph.  Among  the  children  were: 

(1)  Overton  S.  Gildersleeve,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Draper,  Chief  Justice  of  Ontario,  whom  he  survived. 

(2)  Charles  F.  Gildersleeve,  who  married  a  Sliss  Herkimer. 

(3)  James  P.  Gildersleeve  married  Sliss  Rose,  of  Prescott. 

(4)  Lueretia  Gildersleeve. 

(5)  Sarah,  who  married  Sir.  Grant,  of  Toronto. 

(G)  Gertrude,  who  married  Rev. - Kirkpatrick. 

SIINEKSL4  FINKLE— 

Slarried  a  Sir.  Chrysler,  and  had  issue.  One  of  their  grandsons  is 
now  a  clever  lawyer  at  Ottawa.  Mr.  Chrysler  was  one  of  the  Chrys- 
lers  of  “Chrysler’s  Farm,”  where  a  battle  occurred  during  the  War 
of  1812,  where  the  Americans  were  worsted. 


THE  TINKLE  FAMILY. 


149 


WILLIAM  TINKLE — 

The  second  son  and  third  child  of  Henry  Finkle  and  Lucretia 
Bleecker,  his  wife,  was  born  in  Ernesttown  township  on  July  22, 
1797.  lie  owned  lands  in  Prescott  and  South  Fredericksburgh 
townships,  in  the  latter  of  which  he  died  in  1874.  For  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  he  followed  the  business  of  a  farmer,  and  had  a  tine 
farm  on  the  Hay  of  Quinte,  “on  the  front;”  but  in  early  life  he  was 
a  “Lake  Captain,”  or  captain  of  a  merchant  ship  on  Lake  Ontario, 
and  for  some  years  he  owned  and  operated  the  good  ship  Minerva, 
which  was  named  in  honor  of  his  sister  Minerva.  In  1821  he  was 
married  to  Hannah  Huff  Haven  (or  Havens).  She  was  the  daughter 
of  George  Haven,  a  native  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  who,  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  when  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  moved  to 
Kingston,  Ontario,  and  went  thence  to  Mill  Creek,  Addington 
county,  Ontario.  At  this  place  he  married  Abigail  Huff  (also 
spelled  “Hough”),  the  daughter  of  Paul  Huff,  of  Bellville  town¬ 
ship,  who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  British  service  during  the  Rev¬ 
olution.  Paul  Huff's  father  emigrated  from  Denmark  to  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  about  1750,  and,  although  a  Dane,  became  known  as  “Penn¬ 
sylvania  Dutch.’’  Paul  Huff  was  a  prominent  man  and  leading 
citizen  among  the  United  Empire  Loyalists  in  Upper  Canada.  The 
first  Methodist  church  in  Canada  was  organized  in  his  house,  and 
held  its  meetings  there  for  a  year,  until  a  church  building  was 
erected.  He  gave  the  land  for  it  to  be  built  on. 

When  the  War  of  1812  began  George  Haven  left  Canada  in 
company  with  several  others,  and  soon  after  the  battle  of  Queens¬ 
town  Heights  he  joined  the  American  army,  and  was  killed  in  one 
of  the  affairs  that  followed.  His  house  in  Canada  was  burned  by 
the  British  and  his  family  were  scattered.  He  had  nine  children, 
among  whom  were  two  sons,  Robert  and  Hilton  Haven,  both  of 
whom  became  ministers  and  lived  in  the  United  States — principally 
in  Ohio  and  Kentucky. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812  George  Haven’s  widow 
married  Dr.  Samuel  Johnston,  brother  of  the  celebrated  “Bill 
Johnston,”  but  they  had  no  children.  She  survived  him,  and  died 
in  1856  at  the  home  of  her  son,  Rev.  Hilton  Haven,  in  Maysville, 
Ky.,  and  is  buried  there. 


150 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


Rev.  Hilton  Haven  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  genial 
manners,  warm  heart  and  large  brain.  He  was  born  April  22, 
1S07,  died  in  1873,  and  was  married  in  1815.  His  wife,  Caroline 
Hinckley,  was  born  October  22,  1825;  and  she  is  the  granddaughter 
of  Ashbell  Treat,  of  New  York, who  was  a  revolutionary  soldier;  and 
she  is  also  a  cousin  of  ex-United  States  Senator  Gilbert  Pierce,  of 
North  Dakota.  She  was  married  at  East  Otto,  N.  Y.  Her  line  ap¬ 
pearance  and  sunny  disposition  have  made  her  many  friends  and 
admirers.  The  children  of  this  marriage  are:  Hilton  Haven,  who 
is  married,  and  lives  in  Chicago;  Mary,  Avho  married  James  P.  But¬ 
ler,  now  deceased,  who  was  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  Texas 
Legislature,  and  who  served  in  the  Union  army  in  the  late  war; 
Osceola  Haven,  who  lives  in  Detroit  with  her  mother;  Captain 
DeLancey  Haven,  who  has  been  for  many  years  chief  of  the  Fire 
Department  of  Detroit,  and  who  has  patented  some  successful  in¬ 
ventions;  he  was  married  October  1,  1891,  and  has  one  child,  a 
daughter;  and  Robert  Haven,  who  lives  in  Grand  Rapids,  Mich., 
and  is  married  and  has  issue. 

Rev  Robert  Haven,  who  was  also  an  inventor,  a  man  of  most 
kindly  disposition,  married,  first,  Margret  Strickle,  of  Wilmington, 
Ohio,  and  had  issue;  Anna,  who  married  Henry  Fristoe,  of  Sabina, 
Ohio,  whose  children  are  Frank,  Gertrude,  Mamie,  Jessie  and  Fred. 
His  second  wife  was  Maria  Jackson,  of  Casston,  Ohio,  by  whom  he 
had  one  child — Dr.  Henry  H.  Haven,  of  Tippecanoe,  Ohio,  who 
married  Kate  E.  Wefler  on  February  10,  1892,  and  has  issue. 

WILLIAM  FINKLE— 

Second  son  and  third  child  of  Henry  Finkle  and  Lucretia  Bleecker, 
his  wife,  was  united  in  marriage  in  1821,  as  stated,  to  Hannah  Huff 
Haven,  by  Rev.  Mr.  McDowell,  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  to 
visit  the  Bay  of  Quinte  region.  She  died  December  25,  1858,  and 
both  she  and  her  husband  are  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  John’s 
Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  Bath,  Ontario. 

William  Finkle  and  Hannah  Huff  Haven  had  thirteen  children, 
one  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  unnamed.  The  others  were: 

(2)  Henry  Finkle,  born  December  7,  1821,  and  died  about 
1890.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  character  and  splendid  physique,  and 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


151 


was  very  successful  in  business.  He  owned  and  operated  a  large 
carriage  manufactory,  and  also  conducted  a  line  of  stage-coaches 
from  Kingston  to  Napanee.  His  first  wife  was  Jane  Rickabee,  by 
whom  he  had  seven  children,  to  wit:  (1)  Caroline, who  married  Clark 
Baum,  and  lives  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  (2)  Emma,  who  married  Mr. 
Curlett,  of  Napanee,  and  has  two  children.  (3)  Sarah,  who  married 
W.  A.  Hope  (deceased),  of  Newburgh, Ontario,  and  had  five  children 
— (i)  Marion,  who  married  June  3,  1885,  Fred  W.  Armstrong,  post¬ 
master  and  county  clerk  of  Bath;  (ii)  Margaret,  who  married  and 
lives  in  New  York  City;  (iii)  Winnie,  married  Mr.  Reade,  foreign 
steamship  agent  at  Montreal;  (iv)  Maude,  married  Mr.  Gibbs,  and 
lives  in  New  York  City;  (v)  Bertha.  (4)  Adelia,  who  married  Mr. 
Switzer,  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  and  has  one  son,  Harry  Switzer,  who  is  a 
lawyer  in  Philadelphia.  (5)  Bertha,  who  married  Thos.  Henry,  a 
prominent  business  man  of  Napanee,  and  has  two  daughters.  (6) 
Hilton,  who  lives  in  Newburgh,  Canada,  and  succeeded  to  his 
father’s  business.  He  is  one  of  nature’s  noblemen.  He  married 
a  Miss  Spofford,  and  has  two  children.  (7)  Agnes,  who  married 
Prof.  Miner,  and  lives  in  Muskegon,  Michigan. 

Henry  Finlde’s  second  wife  was  Martha  Shibley,  by  whom  he 
had  two  children — Henry  Livingston  and  Luella  Warren.  Henry 
Finkle  was  for  many  years  a  prominent  Freemason. 

(3)  Harriet  Finkle,  born  August  6,  1822,  married  a  Mr.  Miller, 
of  New  England,  and  lived  first  in  Pennsylvania,  and  settled  after¬ 
wards  in  Illinois.  Issue — Marion,  Helen,  Charles  and  Bruce. 

(4)  Charles  Finkle,  born  July  19,  1824,  died  May  4,  1896,  at 
Drayton,  North  Dakota.  He  lived  in  Dakota  many  years,  where  he 
married  and  became  an  extensive  landowner.  Three  children — 
George,  Oran,  and  Mina. 

(5)  Lucretia  Finkle,  born  September  19,  1826,  married  Wil¬ 
liam  Marshall  (now  deceased),  and  they  had  four  children — (l) 
Frank;  (2)  Minnie,  who  married  G.  Y.  Lovell;  (3)  George,  a  fine  busi¬ 
ness  man  now  living  in  Dakota;  (4)  Mattie,  deceased. 

(6)  Mary'  Jane  Finkle,  born  March  23,  1829.  Married  John 
Martyn,who  owns  large  flouring  mills  in  Alvinston,  Ontario.  Chil- 


152 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


(Iren — Jolm,  who  graduated  with  high  honors,  and  is  a  successful 
physician;  Ilea,  Gertrude,  and  Augusta. 

(7)  Adelaide  Finkle.  (See  below.) 

(8)  Sarah  Ann  Finkle,  born  July  14,  1833,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  three  years. 

(9)  Julia  Finkle,  born  August  15,  1835.  Married  first  Dr.  Hen¬ 
derson,  and  had  one  child — Minnie,  who  married  Mr.  Cooper,  a 
lawyer  of  Portage  la  Prairie,  Winnipeg.  Married,  second,  Dr.  Sin¬ 
clair,  a  prominent  physician  and  druggist  of  Walkerton,  and  had 
two  children — Herbert,  a  physician,  and  Corinna. 

(10)  Caroline  Finkle,  born  January  28,  1838,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty  one  years.  Unmarried. 

(11)  William  Burton  Finkle,  born  February  11,  1840.  Never 
married.  He  enlisted  in  1862  in  Company  F  of  the  92d  Regiment  of 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  in  which  he  was  made  a  sergeant.  He 
was  killed  in  the  battle  at  Milliken’s  Bend  in  1863. 

(12)  Ira  Finkle,  born  January  26,  1842.  Now  lives  in  Dakota, 
and  was  never  married. 


(13)  Bertha  Theresa  Finkle,  born  August  9,  1844.  Married 
Miles  A.  Snider,  a  Canadian,  who  possesses  all  the  traits  that  go  to 
make  a  good  and  honest  man.  Mrs.  Snider  is  very  prominent  in 
musical  circles  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  they  have  lived  for  many 
years.  They  have  two  children — (1)  Hilton,  a  druggist  in  Rochester; 
(2)  Lillie  Fayette,  who  married  Frederick  Vivian  Vann,  of  St.  Louis, 
and  has  two  children — Phyllis  Emily,  born  April  4,  1895,  and  Kings¬ 
ley  Hilton,  born  December  4,  1896. 

Adelaide  Finkle,  the  sixth  child  and  fourth  daughter  of  Wil¬ 
liam  Finkle,  and  Hannah  Huff  Haven,  his  wife,  was  born  at  the 
paternal  homestead  in  South  Fredericksburgh,  on  the  Bay  of 
Quinte,  on  March  8,  1832.  When  some  twelve  years  of  age  she 
went  to  stay  a  year  in  Pennsylvania  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Harriet 
Miller,  but  the  visit  lengthened  beyond  what  was  at  first  intended, 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


153 


and  when  the  Miller  family  removed  to  Illinois  she  went  with  them 
and  lived  with  them  several  years.  Finally,  on  her  way  homeward 
to  Canada,  she  stopped  in  Wilmington,  Ohio,  to  visit  her  uncle, 
Hilton  Haven,  who  was  pastor  of  a  church  there,  and  remained 
some  time  with  him.  Here  she  became  engaged  to  marry  Webb 
Broomhall,  and  after  going  home  to  Canada  she  was  married  to 
him  on  August  19,  1855.  Her  children,  four  in  number,  were  all 
born  in  Wilmington,  Ohio,  where  two  of  them  died  in  infancy.  Mr. 
Broomhall  afterwards  removed  to  Circleville,  Ohio,  and  the  family 
removed  thence  to  Springfield,  and  finally  settled  in  Troy,  Ohio. 
Mrs.  Broomhall  died  very  suddenly  at  her  home  in  Troy  on  Septem¬ 
ber  30,  1895,  and  was  buried  in  the  family  lot  in  the  Troy  cemetery. 
Her  two  living  children  are:  Addison  Finkle  Broomhall,  of  Troy, 
Ohio  (see  Chapter  XIII)  and  Corinna  Broomhall  Quisenberry,  wife 
of  Anderson  C.  Quisenberry,  now  of  Washington,  I).  C.  (see  Chapter 
VIII). 

Mrs.  Adelaide  Finkle  Broomhall  was  a  woman  of  the  finest 
order  of  intellect  and  of  the  loveliest  character. 

The  following  obituary  notices  concerning  Mrs.  Adelaide 
Finkle  Broomhall  appeared  in  the  Troy  newspapers: 

From  the  Buckeye,  October  10, 1895: 

“Adelaide  Finkle  Broomhall  was  born  March  8,  1832,  on  the 
front,  near  Bath,  Ontario,  Canada.  At  Wilmington,  Ohio,  August 
19,  1855,  at  the  home  of  her  uncle,  the  Rev.  Hilton  Haven,  who  was 
once  rector  of  the  Episcopal  church  of  Troy,  she  was  married  to 
Mr.  Webb  Broomhall.  Since  the  death  of  her  husband  she  has  been 
n  siding  in  Troy. 

“As  wife,  mother,  grandmother,  and  friend,  she  constantly 
strove  to  be  a  comfort  and  help,  always  doing  something  for  the 
good  and  happiness  of  others. 

“In  tin*  midst  of  seemingly  good  health  and  of  unusually  cheer¬ 
ful  spirits,  while  encouraging  friends  and  providing  for  the  comfort 
of  her  little  grandson  (Francis  Quisenberry),  she  fell  asleep,  Septem¬ 
ber  30,  1895. 

“Her  death  was  as  she  hoped  it  might  be,  in  the  midst  of  full 
and  active  service. 


154 


THE  FINKLE  FAMILY. 


“She  was  a  woman  of  great  learning  aiul  wisdom,  and  leaves  to 
her  children  a  precious  legacy  of  memory  and  influence,  whose  value 
is  beyond  words.” 

From  the  Miami  Union,  October  3,  1895: 

“The  community  was  greatly  shocked  on  Monday  afternoon  by 
the  sudden  death  of  Mrs.  Adelaide  F.  Broomhall,  of  South  Plum 
street.  At  4  o’clock  she  was  discovered  by  her  little  grandson  lying 
unconscious  on  the  floor  at  her  house.  The  neighbors  were  im¬ 
mediately  summoned  to  the  spot  and  medical  assistance  called,  but 
the  spark  of  life  had  gone  out,  and  the  only  indication  of  conscious 
ness  was  a  faint  movement  of  the  lips  when  she  was  removed  to  a 
couch. 

“Mrs.  Broomhall  had  been  a  resident  of  Troy  for  many  years, 
and  had  won  the  respect  and  love  of  a  large  circle  of  friends  and 
acquaintances  by  her  lovable  qualities.  She  will  be  sincerely 
missed  by  her  immediate  family,  but  the  memory  of  a  good,  kind 
and  tender  mother  will  help  to  temper  their  sorrow  and  assuage 
their  grief  over  their  irreparable  loss.  The  funeral  will  take  place 
this  afternoon  at  the  home  of  her  son  (Mr.  A.  F.  Broomhall),  on 
West  Water  street,  and  the  body  will  be  interred  in  the  Riverside 
Cemetery.” 


CHAPTER  XV. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE 

WAR. 


BY  MRS.  EMMA  (QUISENBERRY)  TAYLOR. 

Sitting  alone  to-night  before  the  glowing  grate,  thoughts  of 
other  times  and  scenes  come  over  me.  While  the  outer  world  is 
wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  snow,  shutting  me  in  doors,  I  am  traveling 
hack  year  by  year  over  old  familiar  paths.  Old  memories  are 
stirred  and  never-to-be-forgotten  pictures  rise  before  me.  These 
scenes,  it  is  needless  to  say,  are  laid  in  Virginia,  near  the  old  his¬ 
toric  town  of  Fredericksburg. 

First  comes  the  picture  of  an  old  country  house,  the  place  of 
my  birth  and  the  home  of  my  childhood.  “Hartfield”  it  was  called, 
and  although  it  has  now  fallen  into  ruins,  I  remember  it  well  as 
an  immense,  rambling  old-fashioned  house,  with  large  and  lofty 
rooms,  each  one  spacious  enough  to  hold  two  or  three  of  the  modern 
apartments  in  our  compactly-built  houses.  There  were  scores  of 
windows,  for  our  forefathers  scorned  to  live  in  the  dark.  The 
principal  rooms  were  wainscoted  or  paneled  from  floor  to  ceiling 
with  wood,  which  was  painted  in  light  pearly  tints,  or  in  pure  white. 
The  mantels  were  all  of  wood,  elaborately  carved,  and  so  high  as  to 
be  quite  out  of  reach  of  ordinary-sized  mortals.  The  main  feature 
of  this  old  mansion  was  the  hall,  which  was  very  wide  and  lofty 
and  extended  the  entire  length  of  the  building,  with  no  break  to 
mar  its  symmetry  of  proportion,  for  the  stairway  had  been  built 
in  an  adjoining  hall  of  much  smaller  dimensions.  Along  the  sides 
of  this  main  hall  there  were  deep  recesses  let  into  the  walls,  with 
shelves,  glass  doors,  and  low,  wide  seats.  The  shelves  were  filled 
with  books,  and  many  an  hour  have  I  lounged  away,  ensconsed  in 


156 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


one  of  these  cosy  nooks,  reading  what  ought  to  have  been  one  of 
Maria  Edgeworth's  didaofie  stories,  or  Hannah  More's  “Lady  of  the 
Manor" — these  being  the  authors  specially  recommended  to  us  by 
our  unmarried  aunts  on  both  sides  of  the  house,  with  the  prim  and 
precise  Felicia  Hemans  thrown  in  for  good  count — but  in  all  prob¬ 
ability  the  volume  that  held  me  enthralled  was  Byron's  poems, 
or  Jane  Eyre!  Further  down  the  hall,  and  near  the  door  leading 
to  my  mother’s  apartments  was  a  deep  and  curious  niche  in  the 
wall,  containing  fowling-pieces,  old  silver-headed  canes,  etc.  The 
floor  of  the  hall  was  kept  waxed  and  polished,  and  games  of  battle¬ 
dore  and  shuttlecock  and  graces  amused  these  same  aunts  of  ours 
and  their  gallant  cavaliers  in  stormy  weather. 

The  front  door  of  this  hall  was  entered  from  a  flight  of  steps 
coming  up  from  a  spacious  lawn  shaded  by  grand  old  trees  whose 
age  and  ancestry  would  probably  have  put  to  the  blush  our  claims 
to  ancient  lineage,  though  we  should  doubtless  have  scouted  such 
an  insinuation  at  that  time. 

From  the  back  door  we  descended  by  another  flight  of  steps 
into  one  of  those  lovely  old  gardens  then  always  to  be  seen  on  the 
estates  of  Virginia  country  gentlemen.  From  the  large  plat  of  vel¬ 
vety  greensward  encircling  the  steps  we  emerged  into  the  main 
walk.  This  led  to  a  summer-house  in  the  center  of  the  garden, 
covered  with  woodbine  and  yellow  jessamine,  while  all  around 
it  were  the  flower-beds,  bordered  with  the  spicy  boxwood,  growing 
to  toe  height  of  four  or  five  feet.  Nowhere  else  have  T  seen  the 
box  attain  such  height  and  luxuriance,  and  in  and  out  among  its 
intricacies  did  we  children  play  many  a  game  of  liide-and-seek. 
All  the  old-fashioned  flowers  flourished  here — snowballs,  tulips, 
pinks,  damask-roses,  besides  great  varieties  of  annuals. 

One  feature  was  lacking  to  the  dear  old  place  which  I  must 
not  forget  to  mention,  because  it  was  so  vividly  impressed  upon 
my  childish  imagination.  We  had  no  ghost,  no  haunted  chamber, 
but  there  seemed  to  be  a  pretty  good  substitute  in  the  shape  of 
a  mystery  which  hung  around  the  place.  Under  the  floors  of  two 
large  closets  in  the  second  story,  concealed  by  trap  doors,  were  two 
pits  measuring  five  or  six  feet  in  depth,  utterly  useless,  and  yet 
dark  and  gruesome  enough  to  excite  the  liveliest  curiosity  as  to  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


157 


purpose  of  their  existence.  Had  we  ever  lived  under  a  “Stuart 
dynasty”  and  owned  a  “fugitive  Prince,”  these  niysyterious  places 
might  have  served  as  convenient  places  to  hide  him;  lull  that  being 
out  of  the  question,  there  were  not  wanting  ingenious  suggestions 
lo  (lie  effect  that  old  Colonel  Hart,  the  founder  of  Harttield,  might 
have  invented  them  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  himself  from  im¬ 
portunate  creditors.  This  prosaic  but  scarcely  probable  solution 
of  the  problem  affects  me  quite  differently  to-night  from  what  it  did 
in  my  childish  days,  when  I  shuddered  with  dread  whenever  I  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  left  alone  in  one  of  the  rooms  containing  these  mys¬ 
terious  closets.  Then  T  expected  every  minute  to  see  the  old 
Colonel,  or  his  wraith,  rise  from  the  floor  and  make  a  savage  spring 
at  me,  as  though  I  had  been  one  of  those  inconsiderate  creditors, 
presuming  to  present  an  ‘‘I  O  U”  to  a  man  in  his  station  of  life. 

Tin*  garret,  as  we  called  it  then,  was  the  place  of  the  most 
thrilling  interest  to  us  children.  It  extended  over  all  the  top 
of  the  house,  with  stacks  of  chimneys  rising  up  through  the  centre, 
and  here  we  used  to  assemble  with  our  young  companions,  in  the 
twilight,  to  tell  stories;  and  here,  from  among  these  chimneys 
would  spring  out  sometimes  a  dusky  figure  enveloped  in  a  sheet, 
and  rushing  at  us  would  scatter  us  pell-mell,  each  shouting  and 
screaming  with  terror.  This  apparition  was  the  most  ungainly 
negro  girl  on  the  place,  nicknamed  by  us  “Crane  Mary,”  on  account 
of  her  great  height,  length  of  arms  and  legs,  her  long  scrawny 
neck,  and  bony  lingers.  She  took  a  fiendish  delight  in  frightening 
us  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  jet  she  possessed  for  us  a  kind  of 
dreadful  fascination;  and  not  one  of  us  would  have  dreamed  of 
felling  our  mother  of  her  uncanny  tricks,  for  then  they  might  have 
been  put  an  end  to.  Besides,  if  would  have  been  “mean  and  un¬ 
derhanded,”  possibly  resulting  in  punishment  for  “Crane;”  and 
no  child  of  the  family  could  ever  endure  to  be  the  cause  of  punish¬ 
ment  to  a  servant.  Of  all  our  attic  experience,  one  evening  stands 
out  as  distinctly  in  my  memory  as  if  it  had  been  yesterday.  Clus¬ 
tered  closely  together  among  the  chimneys,  we  sat  listening  lo 
ghost  stories  told  by  tin*  older  ones  of  the  group.  The  light  had 
gradually  faded,  but  still  we  lingered  until  the  ringing  of  the  sup¬ 
per-bell  caused  a  hasty  rush  to  tin*  dining-room,  three  long  flights 
of  stairs  away.  I,  being  the  youngest,  was  somehow  left  behind 


158 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


in  the  dark.  My  feelings  of  absolute  terror  are  with  me  yet;  the 
ghosts  and  their  clanking  chains  sounded  in  my  ears;  their  hands 
were  touching  me;  and  my  scream  after  scream  of  despair  speedily 
brought  the  whole  family  to  my  rescue.  Possibly  that  little  in¬ 
cident  may  explain  the  fact  of  my  being  such  a  coward  in  the  dark 
to  this  day!  On  Ihe  whole,  I  think,  however,  we  enjoyed  our  “long 
parliaments”  in  that  old  garret  quite  as  much  as  were  those  de¬ 
scribed  by  Jean  Ingelow. 

With  a  great  house  and  a  large  family  we  naturally  had  many 
visitors.  Entertaining  was  one  of  our  chief  pleasures,  and  there 
was  rarely  a  time  when  the  old  house  was  not  enlivened  with 
guests.  Hospitality  did  not  entail  much  trouble  in  those  days. 
The  family  had  abundant  leisure,  the  servants  were  trained  each  to 
his  or  her  work,  and  we  never  dreamed  that  a  day  could  come 
when  these  circumstances  would  be  changed. 

During  all  these  years  our  education  was  going  on,  but  it  did 
not  interfere  materially  with  our  pleasures.  As  there  were  five 
daughters  to  educate,  my  father  engaged  the  services  of  two  thor¬ 
oughly  competent  lady  teachers,  and  taking  into  his  family  a  lim¬ 
ited  number  of  young  girls — cousins,  and  daughters  of  friends — 
he  established  an  excellent  private  school  in  his  own  house.  Here 
we  pursued  our  studies  in  a  systematic  way  for  a  number  of  years. 

But  finally  the  old  home  was  broken  up,  and  new  pictures  pre¬ 
sent  themselves  to  my  mind.  My  grandmother  on  ihe  mother’s  side 
lived  in  the  same  county,  some  twenty  miles  away.  By  the  mar¬ 
riages  and  deaths  of  her  children  she  was  left  almost  alone,  and  for 
her  ju’otection  and  comfort  my  parents  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to 
live  with  her.  Father  bought  the  estate — Glencoe  was  its  name — 
and  here  again  we  had  a  large  house,  but  one  of  more  modern  con 
struction  and  adornment.  A  more  fashionable  governess  was  en¬ 
gaged,  and  we  were  allowed  to  see  more  of  society,  though  we  were 
not  regarded  as  young  ladies,  by  any  means.  But  we  were  sur¬ 
rounded  now  by  cousins  of  both  sexes  (I  wonder,  by  the  way, 
whether  this  particular  relationship  is  quite  so  close  and  endearing 
anywhere  else  as  it  used  to  be  in  Old  Virginia),  and  there  was  no 
lack  of  society  for  us,  as  we  were  always  together  somewhere!  We 
gave  and  attended  parties,  acted  charades,  and  enjoyed  life  to  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


159 


fullest,  never  realizing  the  meaning  of  the  word  care.  Up 
to  this  time  dancing  had  not  been  much  indulged  in  in  our  home, 
the  pious  heads  of  the  family  having  a  feeling  that  it  was  unseemly 
in  a  Christian  household;  but  as  many  of  our  relations  and  friends 
here  regarded  it  as  an  innocent  amusement,  we  gradually  fell 
into  the  ways  of  the  neighborhood  and  enjoyed  the  gay  and  fascin¬ 
ating  amusement  as  much  as  our  companions  did. 

Within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  Glencoe  was  Snow  Hill,  the  home  of 
our  great-grandfather,  who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  sheathed  his  sword,  and  passed  away  from  the  scene  of  action 
before  my  mother  was  born;  but  he  had  left  an  ideal  place  which, 
at  the  time  I  speak  of,  was  owned  by  his  son-in-law,  Major  Staple- 
ton  Crutchfield,  a  proud,  haughty  man,  very  choleric  in  temper, 
but  with  line  physique  and  polished  manners.  As  I  first  remember 
him  he  was  quite  old,  but  he  had  lately  married  a  young,  gay,  and 
beautiful  woman,  very  little  older  than  his  sons,  our  cousins;  so 
now  the  house  presented  one  continuous  scene  of  festivity  and 
pleasure.  How  well  I  remember  the  grand  old  place  before  it  was 
turned  into  barracks  for  Federal  soldiers,  after  which  the  house 
was  burned  to  the  ground,  and  every  vestige  of  its  former  beauty 
destroyed!  The  extensive  grounds,  always  kept  in  perfect  order, 
sloped  gently  down  to  the  banks  of  a  small  river.  A  magnificent 
avenue  led  from  the  heavy  iron  gates  up  to  the  house,  and  the  car¬ 
riage  drive  was  bordered  with  beautiful  linden  trees.  The  garden 
was  the  loveliest  and  finest  I  have  ever  seen  anywhere,  and  the 
house  was  handsomely  appointed  within  and  without.  The 
long  rows  of  shining  cottages — many  of  them  built  of  stone — for 
the  almost  countless  negroes,  and  the  numerous  out  buildings,  all 
brilliantly  white,  presented  the  appearance  of  a  village,  rather  than 
of  a  private  home. 

Many  and  varied  were  the  entertainments  enjoyed  by  us  at 
Snow  Hill.  Once,  I  remember,  when  the  old  man  was  especially 
gracious,  he  gave  orders  that  we  should  be  taken  to  the  Courthouse 
to  the  “general  muster,”  to  see  the  militia  drill.  To  our  inex¬ 
perienced  eyes  the  high  hats  with  red  and  white  cockades,  the  gay 
uniforms,  and  all  the  pomp  and  parade  was  quite  imposing — almost 
as  good  as  the  circus,  which  we  were  never  allowed  to  attend. 


160 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


Dancing  was  always  a  prominent  feature  at  Snow  Hill, and  even 
in  summer  1  have  seen  it  carried  on  successfully  out  of  doors,  with 
canvas  spread  on  the  smooth  grass.  Barbecues  for  the  gentlemen 
were  fashionable,  when  ox-tail  soup,  barbecued  meats,  Brunswick 
stews,  and  mint  juleps  abounded.  But  the  most  memorable  as  well 
as  the  most  brilliant  affair  that  I  remember,  and  this  occurred  just 
before  the  war,  was  a  reception  given  in  honor  of  the  eldest  son, 
Corbin  Crutchfield,  when  he  brought  his  young  bride  home.  The 
grounds  were  beautifully  illuminated,  the  house  was  radiant  with 
the  light  of  innumerable  wax  candles,  brass  bands  from  the  city 
played  in  the  yard,  while  indoors  the  flying  feet  of  the  dancers  kept 
time  to  stringed  instruments.  The  supper  was  in  the  best  style  of 
Old  Virginia’s  best  days.  Oysters,  turkeys,  chicken-salad,  flu* 
inevitable  roast  pig  with  an  orange  in  his  mouth,  the  baskets  of 
champagne  and  other  wines,  the  ices  and  fruits  and  everything  else 
which  was  common  to  Snow  Hill  in  those  days — not  forgetting  the 
sable  waiters  in  snowy  apparel  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  and 
the  rows  of  black  faces  outside  pressed  against  window  panes, 
keenly  interested  in  (lie  doing  of  the  “fambly” — all  these  made 
up  a  picture  striking  and  unique,  and  never  again  to  appear,  save 
on  the  canvas  of  memory! 

Major  Crutchfield  himself  was  a  prominent  figure  in  those 
times,  as  he  took  his  daily  drive  in  a  close  carriage  drawn  by  a  span 
of  magnificent  horses,  as  white  as  snow.  It  was  whispered,  by  the 
way,  that  the  young  wife,  when  remonstrated  with  for  marrying 
him,  said  she  might  have  resisted  him  and  his  money,  but  those 
horses  she  was  bound  to  have!  His  coachman,  Aaron,  was  also  a 
famous  character.  Apart  from  his  reputation  for  stealing,  he  had 
more  notoriety  for  himself  as  the  driver  for  this  handsome  and  strik¬ 
ing  equipage;  and  as  he  drove  back  and  forth  to  the  springs  every 
season,  as  was  the  custom  in  those  days,  he  became  very  well 
known  over  the  State.  With  advancing  age  the  Major  became  more 
testy  and  overbearing.  An  amusing  conversation  was  one  day  over¬ 
heard  between  two  of  his  servants  in  regard  to  their  master. 
Speaking  of  I  In*  recent  death  of  a  young  man  in  the  vicinity,  one 
said  to  the  other: 

’Deed,  now;  I  sholy  does  b’leeve  de  good  Lawd  done  clean  for¬ 
got  old  marster,  and  is  gwine  to  leab  him  here  for  good  and  all.” 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 


161 


“Hat’s  so;  win  n't  He  tuk  him  and  lef  dat  po’  young  man  a 
while  longer?  I'm  mortal  sho'  we  cud  a  spar'd  him.” 

In  connection  with  this  side  of  the  past,  many  other  figures  and 
scenes  rise  up  and  crowd  upon  my  memory,  but  I  could  scarcely 
expect  others  to  feel  interested  in  them.  In  contrast  I  turn  to  a  dear 
old  lady,  our  nearest  neighbor,  and  worthy  to  be  remembered  among 
the  Roman  matrons  for  nobility  of  character,  strong  common  sense, 
and  sterling  honesty  of  purpose  and  action.  I  mention  her  because 
she  seemed  to  me  the  most  original  character  1  ever  knew;  her 
meaning  was  not  always  expressed  in  language  taught  by  Murray, 
but  it  was  no  less  clear  and  emphatic  on  that  account.  She  was 
very  devoted  to  my  mother,  and  would  often  come  to  sit  with  her 
on  Sunday  afternoons.  We  young  people  were  often  secretly 
amused  at  her  quaint  ways,  her  remarkable  costumes,  and  her 
emphatic  “That's  hit,  Ferginia;”  and  we  wondered  at  mother's 
gracious  ways  and  gentle  courtesy  to  such  a  plain  old  woman.  But 
we  lived  to  realize  that  for  all  true  womanly  qualities,  tender 
sympathy  when  trouble  invaded  the  household,  and  for  kindly 
help  in  every  emergency,  she  was  the  peer  of  any  lady  in  the  land. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  add  that  she  lived  to  have  her  sons  rise  up  and 
call  her  blessed.  They  are  now  occupying  honored  positions  in 
their  native  State — one  having  represented  the  good  old  town 
of  Fredericksburg  in  legislative  halls  and  the  other  has  been  the 
clerk  of  the  county  for  the  past  fifteen  years;  while  many  of  the 
gay  young  bloods  of  that  by-gone  time,  unable  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  changed  conditions  imposed  upon  them  by  emancipation, 
have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting. 

Lankford,  Kent  Co.,  Md.,  January  15,  1893. 


Note. — As  this  chapter  may  seem  rather  outside  the  general 
scope  of  the  book,  it  may  be  proper  to  state  the  reason  for  the  in¬ 
sertion  thereof.  It  was  written  at  the  request  of  one  of  the 
“cousins”  mentioned,  who  had  been  selected  to  read  a  paper  before 
a  literary  society  upon  “Southern  Life  Before  the  War.”  Being 
unable  to  prepare  the  whole  of  it  by  reason  of  urgent  work  in  her 
department  as  teacher  in  a  large  female  college,  she  requested  two 


162 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  BEFORE  THE  AVAR. 


or  three  friends  to  write  some  personal  incidents  descriptive  of  the 
period.  This  A\as  my  contribution  and  with  no  thought  of  publica¬ 
tion  beyond  the  “society.”  She  added  some  recollections  of  he’1  own, 
for  Ave  were  as  one  family,  and  it  was  read.  The  author  of  the  book 
thought  it  might  be  of  interest  to  some  who  could  easily  recall  the 
general  conditions  of  the  time,  and  therefore  inserted  it. 

E.  T. 


APPENDIX 


i. 

INFORMATION  FROM  ENGLAND. 

(1.)  Winchester  House,  rutney,  S.  W., 

London,  England,  March,  1889. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

Sir:  I  can  not  help  you  in  a  search  after  your  surname,  for  I  do  not 
recognize  it  as  an  English  name  at  all;  and  my  memory  is  borne  out  by  the 
fact  that  it  does  not  once  occur  in  the  return  of  owners  of  lauds  (which  l 
have  just  looked  through  for  you),  though  Queen  borough  occurs  in  Kent, 
Quanbury  in  Lincoln,  and  Quarnbury  in  York.  It  (Quisenberry)  sounds 
Dutch  to  me,  though  I  may  be  wrong;  and  it  may  be  a  corruption  of  some 
such  name  as  Kissenbury,  but  that,  too,  I  do  not  know.  *  *  *  If  Quisen¬ 
berry  is  an  English  name,  it  is  a  very  scarce  one,  and  should  be  very  easy 
to  trace  out  when  once  you  know  the  locality  whence  it  came. 

Yours  faithfully,  WALTER  RYE. 


(2.)  Surbiton,  Surrey,  England,  March  13,  1889. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

Sir:  *  *  *  The  universal  opinion  of  all  whom  I  have  consulted  is  that 
the  original  name  was  Queensberry,  and  that  it  was  corrupted  to  Quisen¬ 
berry,  and  the  universal  opinion  also  is  that  the  termination  “berry”  equals 
"bury;”  i.  e.,  Canterbury,  borough,  burg — in  fact,  that  it  a  town  termination; 
but  no  one  can  give  any  idea  of  the  “Quis.”  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  JOHN  BROOMHALL,  J.  P. 


(3.)  Dalkeith  House,  Dalkeith,  November  18,  1878. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

Sir:  I  am  directed  by  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch  and  Queensberry  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  to  His  Grace,  of  the  loth  ult.  In  answer 
thereto  I  have  to  inform  you  that  Queensberry  is  the  title  of  honor  of  a 
branch  of  the  Douglas  family,  and  not  the  surname.  I  am  not  aware  of  any 
family  in  this  country  with  the  patronymic  of  Queensberry,  and  may  add 
that,  although  1  have  made  inquiries  on  the  subject,  I  can  not  suggest  any 
elucidation  of  the  traditional  change,  to  which  you  refer,  in  your  name,  to  its 
present  form.  I  am, 

Your  obedient  servant,  J.  A.  STUART,  JR. 


(4.t  Surbiton,  Surrey,  England,  March  30,  1889. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

My  Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  The  name  Quisenberry  has  interested  me  very 
much.  I  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  termination,  but  the  prefix  1  have  not 
been  able  to  find  in  any  book;  on  which  I  consulted  Dr.  Hyde  Clark,  a  verj 
distinguished  philologist,  and  he  was  inclined  to  think  that  the  “Quis”  was  a 
Dutch  word;  but  he  would  not  venture  on  an  authoritative  opinion.  *  *  * 


164 


APPENDIX. 


You  are  quite  right  ns  to  Humphrey  Pope,  nml  a  personal  search  among  the 
registers  of  Taunton  may  give  you  definite  information,  as  a  vast  number  of 
Dutch  Protestants  settled  in  the  West  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  1  would  suggest  that  you  write  to  "the  Reverend,  the  Minister  of 
the  Old  Parish  Church,  Taunton,  Somersetshire,  England,”  and  ask  him  to 
look  through  the  parish  registers  as  to  the  names  of  Pope  and  Quisenberry. 
Say,  if  you  please,  that  you  made  the  application  on  the  advice  of  John 
Broomliall,  Esq.,  ,T.  P„  Surrey.  I  do  not  know  the  gentleman,  but  I  shall  be 
much  surprised  if  he  do  not  send  you  any  information  in  his  power.  *  *  * 
Yours  truly,  J.  BROOMHALL,  ,T.  P. 


(5.)  Guildhall  Library, 

London,  E.  C.,  29  March,  1889. 

Dear  Mr.  Broomliall:  The  clue  you  sent  me  in  re.  Quisenberry  lias  not 
been  a  bit  of  use.  Beyond  finding  that  “Humphrey  Pope,  of  Taunton,”  was 
amongst  Sir  William  Booth’s  list  of  prisoners  sent  to  Barbadoes  after  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth’s  rebellion  in  the  West,  and  that  soon  after  the  civil  wars 
ol  Charles  I.  some  almshouses  were  rebuilt  in  Taunton  and  called  “Pope’s 
Almshouses,”  I  have  found  absolutely  nothing.  There  is  not  the  ghost  of  a 
sign  of  the  name  Quisenberry.  *  *  * 

Yours  faithfully,  BERNARD  KETTLE. 


fC>.)  02  Asliburuam  Grove, 

Greenwich,  London,  S.  E.,  2  April,  1889. 

A.  C.  Quisenberry,  Esq.: 

My  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  12th  instant  has  been  mailed  to  me  from 
Boston.  I  regret  to  say  that  my  engagements  are  such  that  it  will  be  im¬ 
possible  for  me  to  visit  Somersetshire  and  examine  the  records  there.  *  *  * 
My  present  researches  are  about  London  and  it s  neighborhood  and  one  or 
two  counties  north  of  the  Thames. 

Sincerely  yours,  HENRY  F.  WATERS. 

P.  S. — I  open  this  to  say  that  I  find  license  granted  for  the  marriage 
of  Samuel  Quissinburrowe,  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  London,  bachelor,  2)5, 
and  Mary  Warner,  of  St.  Michael  Bassisliawe,  London,  21;  her  parents 
dead— alleged  by  Thomas  Quissinborow,  of  St.  Giles,  aforesaid,  clerk— at 
St.  Giles,  aforesaid,  February  1,  167.3. 


(7.)  Guildhall,  London,  E.  C.,  May  25,  1889. 

Dear  Mr.  Broomliall:  *  *  *  In  answer  to  the  query  contained  in  Mr. 
Quisenberry's  letter,  I  see  the  registers  of  St.  Gules,  Cripplegate,  have  never 
been  published.  They  are  in  very  good  condition,  and  date  back  to  1561. 
Mr.  Baddeley,  of  Chapel  Works,  Moor  Lane,  E.  C.,  published  an  account  of 
the  church  and  parish  of  St.  Giles,  Without  Cripplegate.  He  does  not  give 
a  list  of  clerks  or  vicars.  It  is  possible  Thomas  Quissinborow  may  have 
been  curate  of  St.  Giles,  as  the  word  clerk  was  often  used  at  that  time  for 
curate.  *  *  *  I  can  not  trace  the  name  in  the  London  Directory  for  that 
time,  as  200  years  ago  none  but  commercial  people  were  entered  in  the 
London  Directory.  Cripplegate  Without  is,  as  you  know,  roughly  speaking, 
the  most  northernmost  parish  of  London.  St.  Michael  Bassisliawe  is  an 
adjoining  parish  to  the  south.  *  *  *  Mr.  Q.  seems  to  have  got  on  the 
track.  I  hope  he  null  have  success.  The  extract  Mr.  Waters  gave  him  is 
taken  from  Colonel  Chester’s  “Marriage  Licenses.”  edited  by  Joseph  Foster. 
Are  Questonbury  and  Quisenberry  identical?  *  *  * 

Yours  sincerely,  BERNARD  KETTLE. 


(8.)  Surbiton,  Surrey,  England,  May  27,  1889. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

My  Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  I  called  at  the  Guildhall,  and  Mr.  Kettle  produced 
the  Register  called  Colonel  Chester’s  (an  American  gentleman,  very  dis- 


APPENDIX. 


165 


tinguislied.  who  has  done  more  on  the  subject  of  genealogies  than  any  man, 
dead  or  alive),  and  the  entry  is  just  as  you  quote  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
Quissinburrowe  and  Quissinborow  and  Quisenberry  are  identical,  my  name 
being  often  spelled  Bromliall  in  ancient  writings.  Indeed,  my  own  father's 
name  is  so  spelled  in  1796,  in  his  baptismal  register,  while,  in  the  same  regis¬ 
ter,  he  is  described  as  the  son  of  William  Broomhall.  The  Church  of  St. 
Giles,  in  London,  is  one  of  our  most  distinguished  churches,  Milton  being 
buried  there;  and  the  first  thing  an  American  gentleman  does  is  to  go  to  ids 
tomb,  just  as  t lie  first  tiling  an  Englishman  does  when  in  the  south  of  the 
United  States  is  to  go  to  Washington’s.  *  *  *  The  name  “clerk”  is  a  very 
distinguished  name  in  history.  Henry  I.  was  “Beauclerc”  by  name;  and 
every  clergyman  to  the  present  day,  is  described  in  legal  documents  as 
“clerk.”  Again,  Mr.  Samuel  Quissinburrowe  was  married  by  license  at  the 
maximum  fee  of  six  shillings  and  eiglitpence,  and  not  by  banns  of  two 
shillings,  the  lowest  fee.  The  name  of  Warner  is  well  known,  and  I  dare 
sny  that  the  Mary  Warner  of  1673  was  one  of  the  family  of  Warners  of  1889 
who  reside  in  the  parish  of  St.  Giles,  and  have  done  so  for  the  last  200  years, 
and  are  the  great  church-bell  founders.  Mr.  Warner  and  I  are  co-directors  of 
a  large  insurance  office,  and  1  see  him  every  week.  I  asked  him  if  he  had 
any  trace  of  the  Mary  Warner  of  1673,  and  he  said  “No.”  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  J.  BROOMHALL. 

(9.)  Guildhall,  E.  C.,  29  May,  1889. 

Dear  Mr.  Broomhall:  In  making  inquiries  about  the  St.  Giles  registers, 
I  hear  Mr.  Quisenberry  has  written  to  Mr.  Barff,  t lie  rector.  When  doing  so 
he  supplied  Mr.  Barff  with  the  wrong  date,  and  gave  him  February,  instead 
of  September,  1693.  Of  course,  this  accounts  for  Mr.  Barff's  inability  to  find 
the  marriage.  1  have  since  ascertained  that  the  marriage  did  take  place  at 
St.  Giles  on  September  4.  1073,  and  was  entered  under  the  name  of  Quinsen- 
burrow.  This  should  lie  good  news  for  Mr.  Q.,  and  he  will  doubtless  have 
a  copy  of  the  entry.  He  should  also  have  the  registers  searched.  The  regis¬ 
ters  of  St.  Giles  are  about  the  most  complete  of  any  in  London.  *  *  *  No 
doubt  t He  children  (if  any)  of  the  marriage  will  be  found  in  the  regis¬ 
ter.  *  *  * 

Yours  sincerely,  BERNARD  KETTLE. 

(Note.— I  had  the  St.  Giles  registers  thoroughly  searched,  but  did  not  find 
any  other  entry  pertaining  to  the  name  Quisenberry. — A.  C.  Q.) 


(10.)  Surbiton,  Surrey,  May  30,  1889. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Quisenberry:  *  *  *  Colonel  Chester's  book  is  very  com¬ 
plete;  but.  of  course,  in  the  printing  of  25,000  names  it  is  very  probable  that 
tlie  printing  of  “February”  is  a  typical  error.  Or,  from  some  cause  or 
other,  flic  marriage  may  have  been  postponed  from  February  to  September, 
the  license,  of  course,  holding  good. 

Yours  truly,  .1.  BROOMHALL. 


IT. 

INFORMATION  FROM  WESTMORELAND  COUNTY.  VIRGINIA. 

(The  following  deposition  was  not  taken  until  1734,  but  as  it  establishes 
tiie  fact  that  John  Quisenberry  helped  to  survey  certain  lands  “when 
they  were  first  taken  up.”  and  as  that  was  in  the  year  1651.  this  paper 
fixes  the  earliest  known  date  of  a  Quisenberry  being  in  Virginia:  and  it 
is  therefore  given  first  place  here  in  mv  transcript  of  Virginia  records.— 
A.  C.  Q.) 

(1.)  The  deposition  of  Humphrey  Pope,  of  the  county  of  Westmoreland, 
aged  60  years,  or  thereabouts,  taken  at  the  request  of  the  Honorable  Thomas 


166 


APPENDIX. 


Lee,  Esquire,  concerning  the  bounds  of  his  land,  iu  the  presence  of  Matthew 
Bean  and  Thomas  Osborn,  now  in  possession  of  the  land  adjoining  to  and 
binding  on  the  land  of  said  Thomas  Lee:  the  said  deponent  saith  that  about 
thirty  years  ago  one  John  Sturman,  now  dead,  who  acted  as  the  attorney 
of  one  Joanna  Pope,  then  in  England,  the  widow  of  one  Thomas  Pope,  de¬ 
ceased,  made  a  survey  of  a  certain  patent  granted  to  one  Nathaniel  Pope 
for  1,050  acres  of  land  in  the  county  of  Northumberland,  now  Westmoreland, 
bearing  date  the  19tli  day  of  May,  1(551,  which  land  the  said  Joanna  Pope 
claimed  in  right  of  her  son,  Riichard  Tope,  under  whom  the  said  Thomas  Lee 
claims;  and  this  deponent  saith  as  the  said  survey  was  then  made  there 
was  neither  line  nor  corner  tree  to  be  found,  except  one  marked  tree,  which 
this  deponent  was  informed  by  one  John  Quiseuberry  was  marked  to  know 
where  some  hogs  lay;  that  when  survey  was  made  the  said  Sturman  caused 
lines  to  be  marked,  which  this  deponent  hath  often  seen  and  believes  are 
still  to  be  seen;  and  this  deponent  saith  that,  holding  land  adjoining  to  the 
aforesaid  patent  and  thinking  the  said  survey  was  not  right,  about  two 
or  three  years  after  he  made  inquiry  concerning  the  bounds  of  the  aforesaid 
patent,  particularly  of  the  aforesaid  Quisenbury,  then  near  80  years  of  age, 
and  the  said  Quisenberry  told  this  deponent  that  he  was  a  chain-bearer  and 
helped  mark  the  aforesaid  1,050  acres  of  land  when  the  same  was  first 
taken  up,  and  further  tould  this  deponent  that  the  survey  made  by  the  said 
Sturman  was  not  right,  and  sayed  there  was  a  black  walnut  tree  standing 
at  the  head  of  a  valley  leading  to  Johnny  Green’s  Run,  that  falls  into  Pope’s 
Creek  Beaver  Dams,  which  black  walnut  tree  the  said  Quisenbury  said  was 
a  corner  tree  of  the  said  patent,  and  that  he  had  either  marked  it  himself 
or  was  present  when  the  same  was  marked,  at  the  time  the  land  was  first 
surveyed;  and  this  deponent  afterwards  went  to  the  said  valley,  where  he 
found  a  black  walnut  tree,  as  the  said  Quisenberry  had  tould  him,  which 
appeared  to  have  been  anciently  marked  as  a  corner  tree,  &e.,  &c. 

(The  remainder  of  this  deposition  is  of  no  interest  in  connection  with 
this  history.  This  Humphrey  Pope  was  the  second  of  the  name,  and  was, 
as  I  believe,  John  Quisenberry’s  wife’s  nephew.) 

Sworn  to  March  29,  1734,  before  Wm.  Aylett,  Andrew  Monroe,  Jr.,  and 
Benjamin  Waddy,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 


(2.)  Heatlisville,  Va.,  March  21,  1888. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

My  Dear  Sir:  The  Clerk’s  Office  of  Northumberland  county  was  at  one 
time  burned,  and  it  is  stated  iu  an  old  record  book  as  having  occurred 
on  the  25tli  of  October,  1710.  The  old  records  were  about  all  destroyed. 
Westmoreland  county  was  cut  off  from  Northumberland  county  in  1G53. 
*  *  *  Very  respectfully,  WM.  S.  CRALLE. 


(3.)  From  the  Westmoreland  County  Records: 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  that  John  Quessenbury  doth  give  for 
his  mark  of  hoggs  and  cattle,  itnderkeeld,  and  underkeeld  on  both  sides. 

27  June,  1G5G,  this  mark  was  recorded. 


(4.)  Know  all  men  by  these  present  yt  I,  Henry  Barbwell,  factor  for  John 
Pope,  marcht,  of  Bristoll,  doe  acquit  and  discharge  John  Vaughn  from  all 
bills,  bonds,  ingagements  or  accounts  which  was  left  by  Owen  Jones,  factor 
for  John  Pope,  being  lately  deceast  in  John  Vaughn’s  house,  to  whom,  before 
his  death,  he  left  all  his  wrigliting  and  business  of  ye  said  John  Pope;  and 
by  virtue  of  my  power  received  from  John  Pope,  I  doe  discharge  him  of  all 
wrigliting  and  goods  which  was  left  by  Ovqn  .Tones  in  John  Vaughn’s 
house,  or  elsewhere,  in  virtue  whereof  1  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  this 


APPENDIX. 


167 


5th  day  of  December,  1660.  Likewise,  I  doe  acquit  Jolm  Vaughn  of  all  goods 
and  liquors  which  came  from  Monados  since  his  decease.  In  witness  whereof 
I  doe  hereunto  sett  my  hand  and  seale  ye  day  and  year  above  written. 

HENRY  BARBW’ELL. 

Teste:  L’anuiell  Lisseon,  John  Quesseubury. 


(5)  In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I,  Tobias  Butler,  being  very  sick  and 
weak  of  body,  but,  thanks  be  to  God,  of  perfect  memory,  doe  make  my  last 
will  and  testament  as  followeth: 

Imprimis.  I  bequeath  my  soul  to  God  and  my  body  to  the  Earth  from 
whence  it  came,  and  as  for  my  worldly  estate,  it  is  my  Will  that  it  shall 
be  brought  to  an  appraisement,  and  what  it  amounts  (into  to  be  equally 
divided  between  my  wife  and  two  children  (one  is  not  yet  in  being)  accord¬ 
ing  to  appraisement,  and  if  either  of  my  children  dies,  then  its  part  to  the 
survivor;  furthermore,  it  is  my  Will  that  as  soon  as  I  am  departed  an 
inventory  of  what  moveables  I  have  to  be  taken,  because  my  children  may 
not  be  defrauded  of  what  is  theirs;  and  my  two  children,  if  they  soe  long 
live,  to  be  free  at  18  years  of  age,  and  to  have  their  whole  estate  at  20 
years  of  age;  and  if  my  wife  should  die  I  leave  my  son  James  Butler  unto  my 
loveiug  friend  John  Quessenbury  to  take  him  and  raise  him,  and  if  my  Avife 
should  marry  and  my  children  should  be  abused,  then  my  loveiug  friend  to 
take  them  into  his  custody.  It  is  further  my  will  that  my  cattle  be  presd 
September  next  ensuing  the  date,  and  if  this  be  a  Girl,  then  my  sou  to  have 
two  shares  and  to  give  unto  his  sister  at  16  years  of  age,  or  marriage,  three 
young  heifers:  and  of  this  my  last  Will  and  testament  I  leave  my  beloved 
wife  and  my  beloved  friend  John  Quessenbury  my  executors,  to  see  this  my 
last  Will  and  testament  performed;  as  witness  my  hand  and  seale  this  17th 
day  of  February,  1687-8.  TOBIAS  BUTLER. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  John  Sanford  and  Philip 
Welch. 


(6.)  On  the  minutes  of  a  Court  held  for  Westmoreland  county  on  Sep¬ 
tember  29.  1692.  occurs  the  following  record  of  a  suit: 

“Captain  John  Washington  vs.  John  Quessenbury,  jr.,  dismist.” 

(There  is  nothing  to  show  what  the  suit  is  about.— A.  C.  Q.) 

(7.)  At  a  Court  held  for  the  same  county  on  the  31st  day  of  May,  1693, 
John  Quesseubury,  jr.,  is  named  as  one  of  the  Grand  Jurors  of  the  said  term 
of  Court. 

(8.)  At  a  Court  held  for  tiie  same  county  the  31st  day  of  October,  1694, 
upon  the  peticon  of  Elizabeth  Quissenbury,  relict  of  Jolm  Quissenbury,  juur., 
administration  is  granted  her  of  her  dec’d  husband’s  estate,  Edward  Lambley 
and  Humphrey  Quissenbury  now  having  assumed  in  Court  for  her  due 
administration,  &c.:  Ordered,  they  enter  into  bond  accordingly. 

It  is  ordered  that  Elizabeth  Quissenbury,  relict  of  John  Quissenbury. 
junr.,  doe  return  to  the  next  court  a  true  and  perfect  inventory  of  her  said 
dec’d  husband’s  estate,  upon  oath. 

It  is  ordered  that  Edward  Lambley,  Robert  Andrews,  and  Anthony 
Windsor,  or  any  two  of  them,  being  first  sworn  before  some  of  Their  Majes¬ 
ties’  Justices  for  this  county,  doe  value  and  appraise  the  estate  of  John 
Quissenbury,  junr.,  dec’d,  and  make  return  of  the  same  to  the  next  Court. 

(9.)  At  a  Court  held  for  the  same  county  tin'  30th  day  of  January,  1694-5. 
Elizabeth  Quissenbury  returned  into  Court  an  inventory  of  the  estate  of 
John  Quissenbury,  junr.,  dec’d,  upon  oath,  which,  together  with  the  appraise¬ 
ment  thereof,  are  ordered  to  be  recorded. 


168 


APPENDIX. 


Elizabeth  Quissenlmry  exhibited  to  this  Court  an  account  against  the 
estate  of  her  deceased  husband,  John  Quissenlmry,  junr.,  for  funeral  ex¬ 
penses,  Ac.,  amounting  to  070  lbs.  of  tobacco,  and  prayed  allowance  for  the 
same  out  of  her  said  husband’s  estate;  which,  being  examined  and  regulated 
by  the  Court,  it  is  considered  that  slice  be  allowed  410  lbs.  of  tobacco  out  of 
said  estate,  and  judgment  is  granted  her  for  the  same. 


(10.1  At  a  Court  held  for  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  June  20,  1709;— 
Elizabeth  Luck,  servant  to  Humphrey  Quissenbury,  being  convicted  of  hav¬ 
ing  a  naturall  child  born  of  her  body  in  her  said  master's  house,  in  the 
parish  of  Washington,  and  he  having  assumed  to  pay  her  tine  of  500  pounds 
of  tobacco  to  the  said  parish  of  Washington,  in  consideration  whereof  shee, 
the  said  Elizabeth  Luck,  acknowledged  to  serve  her  master  one  whole  yeare, 
arid  upon  his  mocon  it.  is  ordered  that  she  serve  him  one  whole  yeare 
more  in  compensation  of  the  trouble  of  his  house,  loss  of  service,  &c.,  which 
said  two  yeares’  service  is  to  be  performed  and  fulfilled  after  all  other  service 
due  from  the  said  Luck  to  her  master,  according  to  law,  by  indenture,  former 
order  of  Court,  or  otherwise,  howsoever. 

The  said  Elizabeth  being  examined  in  Court,  declared  upon  the  Holy 
Evangelist  that  one  John  Adams  did  on  her  body  begett  the  aforesaid  child. 

Humphrey  Quissenbury  assumed  in  open  Court  to  pay  the  parish  of 
Washington  ftive  hundred  pounds  of  Tobacco,  being  the  sum  due  from  his 
servant  Elizabeth  Luck,  for  fornication. 


(11.)  At  a  Court  held  for  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  June  25,  1712:— 
Judith  Peters,  servant  to  Humphrey  Quissenbury,  being  convicted  of  having 
a  bastard  child,  and  failing  to  pay  the  fine  for  fornication,  it  is  ordered  the 
Sheriff  of  the  County  doe  give  her  twenty-five  lashes  on  her  bare  back,  well 
laid  on,  according  to  law,  for  her  said  offense.  TTpon  motion  of  Humphrey 
Quissenbury,  it  is  ordered  that  Judith  Peters,  his  present  servant,  lately 
delivered  of  a  bastard  child,  doe  serve  her  said  master  one  whole  yeare  for 
the  trouble  of  his  house  and  the  loss  of  service  during  the  tyme  of  her  re¬ 
covery,  after  all  former  service  is  expired  according  to  law. 

(Note.— The  foregoing  extracts  from  the  records  of  Westmoreland  county 
I  copied  myself  in  June.  1893.  The  memoranda  now  immediately  following 
were  furnished  me  by  the  County  Clerk  in  1888,  in  order  to  show  what  his 
records  contain  re  Quisenberry.  I  had  full  copies  of  many  of  these  made, 
which  will  follow  in  due  order.— A.  C.  Q.) 


(12.)  Montross,  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va.,  February  l(!j  1888. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  I  have  gone  through  a  thorough  search  of  the  old 
records  (as  to  old  patents,  deeds  and  wills)  of  my  county,  which  go  back  to 
1053,  the  year  of  the  formation  of  Westmoreland  county  from  Northumber¬ 
land  county,  to  learn  something  of  the  Quisenberry  family,  who  settled  in 
this  county.  In  my  search  through  the  old  records  of  patents,  wills,  deeds, 
Ac-..  I  find  the  information  on  the  memoranda  enclosed  herewith.  *  *  *  In 

reference  to  the  spelling  or  writing  of  the  name  Q - ,  will  say  all  of  the 

original  books  containing  patents,  deeds  and  wills  have  been  transcribed, 
and  possibly  the  different  ways  of  spelling  or  writing  the  name  was  with 
the  transcribers.  Much  handling  of  the  old  records  containing  patents,  deeds 
and  wills  necessitated  the  transcribing  of  the  same.  The  original  fiduciary 
books  have  never  needed  transcribing,  as  they  are  not  handled  much,  and 
are  as  good  as  new  now.  I  find  in  the  old  fiduciary  books  that  the  name  is 
written  Quessenbury  or  Quissenbury;  and  in  the  transcribed  books  of  patents, 
deed  and  wills  the  name  is  written,  viz,  Quesenbury,  Quisenbury,  Quesen- 
berry  and  Quisenberry.  I  believe  the  original  way  was  as  contained  in  the 
old  fiduciary  books— Quessenbury,  or  Quissenbury.  *  *  * 

Yours  very  respectfully, 


M.  L.  HUTT. 


APPENDIX. 


169 


MEMORANDA. 

....John  Butler,  of  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va.,  to  John  Quisenbury,  planter, 
of  the  same  Co.,  100  acres  of  land,  being  part  of  a  patent.  Bill  of  sale  dated 
January  16,  1666. 

. ..  .Christopher  Pritchett,  et  ux.,  to  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  of  Westmoreland 
Co.,  Va.,  bill  of  sale  for  100  acres  of  land,  dated  July  6,  1695. 

....Malachy  Peale  to  John  Quisenbury,  sr.,  assignment  dated  Nov.  25,  1691, 
of  his  remaining  interest,  of  2U0  acres,  in  a  patent. 

. ..  .Deposition  of  John  Quisenbury,  “age  80  years,  or  thereabouts,”  iu  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  line  of  an  old  patent.  Date  of  deposition,  January  31,  1707. 

.  ..  .Richard  Harman,  et  ux.,  to  Ann  Quisenbury,  of  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va., 
binding  their  child,  Win.  Harman,  to  her  during  the  term  of  20  years  and  3 
months.  Date,  February  25,  1707-8. 

. ..  .Henry  Ward  to  Nicholas  Quesenbury,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated 
April  8,  1738,  for  100  acres  of  land  on  Monroe’s  Creek,  for  £26,  current  money 
of  Virginia. 

.  ...Wm.  Quesenbury  to  his  three  sons,  John,  William  and  Nicholas,  deed 
of  gift  to  each  of  50  acres  of  land,  dated  August  25,  1710. 

. Tames  Naughty  to  Wm.  Quisenbury,  arbitration  bond,  dated  June  17, 

1740.  Penalty,  £200. 

. ..  .Mary  Hazel  to  James  Quesenbury,  sr.,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated 
July  25,  1748,  conveying  her  interest  in  certain  property  in  consideration  of 
maintenance. 

. . .  .Ann  Quisenberry  to  James  Quisenberry,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated 
August  22,  1752,  conveying  land  and  negroes,  iu  consideration  of  natural  love 
and  affection,  800  lbs.  of  tobacco,  and  maintenance. 

....John  Bayn  to  Wm.  Quesenbury,  sr.,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated 
June  27,  1756,  conveying  life  interest  in  469  acres  of  land,  in  consideration 
of  one  shilling  yearly. 

..  .John  Bayn  to  Wm.  Quesenbury,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated 
March  5,  1757,  conveying  250  acres  of  land,  in  consideration  of  £250,  current 
money. 

....Daniel  McCarty,  et  ux.,  to  Nicholas  Quesenbury,  of  Washington  parish, 
deed  dated  September  24,  1771,  conveying  68  acres  of  land  on  Monroe’s 
Creek;  consideration,  £60,  current  money. 

....Same,  to  James  Quesenbury,  of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated  Septem¬ 
ber  24,  1771,  conveying  60  acres  of  land  on  t lie  north  side  of  Monroe’s  Creek; 
£60,  current  money. 

. ..  .Clias.  Deane,  et  ux.,  to  Nicholas  Quisenbury,  of  Washington  parish,  deed 
dated  November  19,  1781,  conveying  two  tracts  of  land,  125  and  83  acres; 
£200,  good  money. 

....James  Quisenbury  and  Ann,  his  wife;  Charles  Deane  and  Elizabeth,  his 
wife,  to  Peggy  Deane,  deed  dated  October  8,  1781,  conveying  their  interest 
in  the  land  of  Mary  Brock,  deceased;  £50,  current  money,  and  natural  love 
and  affection. 

. ..  .John  Berkley,  et  ux.,  to  Nicholas  Quisenbury,  of  Washington  parish,  deed 
dated  June  18,  1784,  conveying  150  acres  of  land;  consideration,  £40,  good 
money  of  Virginia. 

....Thomas  Drake,  et  ux.,  to  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  of  Washington  parish, 
deed  dated  June  23,  1784,  conveying  20  acres  of  laud;  consideration,  4,000  lbs. 
of  tobacco. 

.  ..  .Richard  Stevens,  it  ux.,  to  Nicholas  Quesenbury,  of  Washington  parish, 
deed  dated  October  11,  1785,  for  74  acres  of  land;  consideration  £16. 

....Mary  Pead,  Philip  Pead  and  Alice,  his  wife,  to  Nicholas  Quesenberry, 
of  Washington  parish,  deed  dated  Nov.  8,  1785,  for  100  acres  of  land;  con¬ 
sideration  not  stated. 


lto 


APPENDIX. 


....Philip  Pead,  rt  u.r.,  to  Nicholas  Quesenbury  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  of 
Washington  parish,  deed  dated  September  27,  1791,  for  72  acres  of  land  in 
the  “Irish  Neck;”  £100,  good  and  lawful  money  of  Virginia. 

.  . .  .Nicholas  Quesenbury  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  John  Steward,  deed  dated 
June  20,  1792,  for  OS  acres  of  land  in  Irish  Neck,  on  north  side  of  Monroe’s 
Creek;  £S0,  current  money  of  Virginia. 

....Nicholas  Queseuberry  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  Philip  Pead  and  wife, 
deed  dated  September  27,  1791,  for  100  acres  of  land;  £100,  current  money 
of  Virginia. 

...  .Nicholas  Quisenberry  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  Philip  Pead,  deed  dated 
June  22,  1799,  for  50  acres  of  land;  £25,  current  money  of  Virginia. 
....Richard  Payne,  ct  nr.,  to  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  of  Washington  parish, 
deed  dated  February  20,  1790,  107  acres  12  poles  of  land;  £100. 

....Nicholas  Quesenbury  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  of  Wake  county,  parish 
of  Margate,  State  of  North  Carolina,  to  Lawrence  Pope,  deed  dated  Septem¬ 
ber  20,  17S0,  conveys  plantation  containing  409  acres  in  Washington  parish, 
Westmoreland  county,  Virginia;  consideration,  £00,000,  current  money. 
(Note.— This  was  in  the  depreciated  Continental  money  of  the  Revolution.— 
A.  C.  Q.) 

.  ..  .Nicholas  Quisenbury  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  of  Washington  parish,  deed 
dated  February  24,  1790,  to  Henry  Lee,  for  05  acres  of  land,  “on  which  re¬ 
sides  Nanny  Quisenbury,  widow  of  James  Quisenbury;”  £100,  current  money. 
.  . .  .Nicholas  Quisenberry  and  Hannah,  ids  wife,  of  Washington  parish,  deed 
dated  September  20,  1790.  to  Lawrence  Pope,  for  107  acres  12  poles  of  land; 
£100,  current  money. 

....Nicholas  Quisenbury,  of  Stafford  county,  Va.,  to  Win.  Quisenbury,  of 
Washington  parish,  bill  of  sale  for  negroes,  dated  November  19,  1782. 
....Lawrence  Tope  to  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  bond  dated  August  10,  1772: 
consideration,  a  deed  of  gift  to  his  daughter  Jane  for  six  negroes.  (Said  Jane 
Quisenbury  married  said  Lawrence  Pope.) 

....Ann  Quisenberry  to  her  son,  James  Quisenberry,  deed  of  gift  dated 
August  22,  1752. 

.  .  .Nicholas  Quisenberry  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  Wm.  Nelson,  deed  dated 
January  9,  1784,  125  a eres  in  Washington  parish;  consideration,  six  slaves. 

.  ..  .Nicholas  Quisenbeiry  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  Philip  Pead,  deed  dated 
17S5,  for  70  acres  of  land;  consideration,  100  acres  of  land. 

....Hannah  Quisenberry  to  Penelope  Pope,  widow  of  Lawrence  Pope,  and 
to  Nancy  Moxley,  her  two  daughters,  deed  of  gift  dated  July  10,  1817;  con¬ 
veys  100  acres  in  Richmond  county,  Va.,  to  be  equally  divided. 

....Lawrence  and  William  Butler  to  Nicholas  Quisenbury,  of  Washington 
parish,  deed  dated  May  29,  1792,  for  15G  acres  of  land;  £8G. 

....James  Quisenberry’s  estate,  inventory  and  appraisement  dated  October 
IS,  1794.  Same,  division  in  obedience  to  order  of  court  dated  October  28,  1794; 
division  of  negroes  to  Mrs.  Ann  Quisenberry,  Mrs.  Rose,  Mrs.  Drake  and 
Nicholas  Quisenberry. 

.  . .  .John  Quisenbury’s  estate;  inventory  and  appraisement  by  order  of  court, 
dated  November  17,  1717. 

.  . .  .Order  of  court  dated  January  28,  1756,  appointing  appraisers  to  value  the 
estate  of  John  Quisenbury. 

.  . .  .Order  of  court  dated  July  27,  17G2,  to  inventory  and  appraise  the  estate 
of  Wm.  Quisenbury.  John  Naughty,  Adm’r. 

.  ..  .Wm.  Quisenberry’s  allotment,  July  1,  1774,  to  his  daughter,  Ann  Stoop, 
wife  of  John  Stoop. 

.  ..  .Order  of  court  to  appraise  the  estate  of  Christopher  Quisenberry,  dated 
May  2G,  175G.  No  administrator’s  account. 


APPENDIX.  171 

. . .  .Humphrey  Quisenberry.  By  order  of  court  dated  September  24,  1776, 
inventory  and  appraisement,  and  allotment  to  widow. 

....Ann  Quiseubury,  inventory  and  appraisement,  by  order  of  court  June 
29,  1779. 

....Nicholas  Quiseubury,  inventory  and  appraisement,  by  order  of  court 
March  27,  1750. 

....Nicholas  Quiseubury,  inventory  and  appraisement,  by  order  of  court 
August  20,  1755. 

. Vt  a  poll  taken  at  an  election  of  Burgess  on  May  24.  1747,  there  voted 

John,  William,  sr.,  William,  jr.,  and  Humphrey  Quiseubury. 

. U  a  poll  taken  for  Burgess  April  25,  1757,  there  voted  Humphrey,  James 

and  Wiiliain  Quiseubury. 

. U  a  poll  taken  for  Burgess  May  10,  1701,  there  voted  James,  Humphrey 

and  James  Quiseubury. 

....Nicholas  Quisenberry,  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  to  John  Pratt,  deed  dated 
December  21,  1800.  for  00  acres,  being  part  of  the  land  bought  of  Tlios. 
Drake,  June  23,  1784;  100. 

.  ..  .George  Bruce,  et  tu\.  et  al,  to  George  Quisenberry,  deed  dated  January 
27.  1812,  for  63  acres  of  land;  $03. 

And  other  conveyances  of  record  down  to  near  the  present  time. 


WILLS. 

....Will  of  John  Quisenbnry,  dated  November  23,  1714;  given  in  full  here¬ 
after. 

. ..  .Will  of  William  Quiseubury,  dated  May  27,  1702;  given  in  full  hereafter. 
....Will  of  Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  dated  May  23,  1784;  bequeaths  to  Elijah 
Weaver  one  bay  horse,  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever;  to  IUchard  Weaver, 
one  feather  bed  and  furniture;  to  William  Dodd,  one  bay  mare  and  her 
future  increase;  to  Nicholas  Dodd,  one  bay  colt;  to  Ann  Weaver,  all  her 
wearing  apparel  and  one  side-saddle  during  her  life,  and  after  the  decease 
of  the  said  Ann  Weaver  the  saddle  to  go  unto  her  eldest  daughter,  Elizabeth 
Bayn,  and  to  her  heirs  forever;  gives  to  William  Quisenberry  some  personal 
property. 

....James  Quisenberry,  will  dated  October  in,  1788:  devises  to  his  wife  his 
plantation  in  the  “Irish  Neck”  during  her  natural  life,  then  to  his  brother 
or  his  heirs;  his  forest  farm,  a  few  negroes  and  some  personal  property 
to  be  divided  between  his  brother  and  sister.  (Note. — His  wife’s  name  is  not 
given  in  the  will.  Ann  Quisenberry  quail  tied  as  the  administratrix,  and  I 
think  she  was  the  widow.— M.  L.  Hutt.) 

.  ..Will  of  Nicholas  Quiseubury,  of  Washington  parish,  dated  May  2,  1755: 
“Item,  I  give  unto  my  daughter,  Ann  Welch,  one  negro  garl,  &c.  Item,  I 
give  unto  my  beloved  wife  one  negro  woman,  &c.  Item,  I  give  unto  the 
child  my  wife  now  goes  with,  one  negro  garl,  &e.  Item,  I  give  unto  my 
father  my  suit  of  Jar  min  Sarge  Cloathes.  Item,  I  give  unto  my  daughter,  Atm 
Welch,  the  plantation  1  now  live  on,  and  to  her  heirs  forever;  and  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  my  estate  to  be  divided  between  my  wife  and  daughter  and  the 
child  my  wife  now  goes  with.”  Witnesses:  Humphrey  Pope,  James  Quisen¬ 
berry. 

.  ..  .Will  of  Ann  Quisenberry,  dated  February  16,  1808,  bequeaths  to  General 
John  Hungerfonl,  one  negro  man;  to  Lawrence  Pope,  one'  negro  man;  “I  give 
and  bequeath  to  my  (daughter  ?),  Oaty  Dean,  all  my  bonds,  money,  debts, 
&c.,  together  with  the  remainder  of  my  estate,  both  real  and  personal.” 
....Will  of  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  dated  June  10.  1802.  Gives  to  his  wife 
Hannah,  during  her  widowhood,  all  his  real  and  personal  estate.  (“This 
includes  the  land  that  my  brother  James  gave  me,  and  the  negroes  I  have  in 
my  possession);  afterwards  I  give  it  to  my  son,  George  Quisenberry;  and 


172 


APPENDIX. 


also  give  my  part  of  the  negroes  which  Ann  Quiseuberry  hath  in  her  posses¬ 
sion.  which  negroes,  being  her  third  of  the  negroes  that  belonged  to  my 
brother,  James  Quiseuberry,  to  be  equally  divided  among  my  three  daugh¬ 
ters.  Penelope  Pope,  Nancy  Moxley  and  Catie  Rigg.”  lie  also  gives  land 
to  these  three  daughters. 

....Will  of  Humphrey  Quiseuberry,  dated  January  HO,  1773;  given  in  full 
hereafter.  (Note.— The  original  will  is  written  entirely  in  II.  Q.’s  own  hand 
-A.  C.  Q.) 

.  . .  .Will  of  Ann  Quiseuberry,  dated  August  23,  1773;  given  in  full  hereafter. 
....Also,  wills  of  record;  Augustine  Quiseuberry,  May  4,  1850,  and  Lucy 
Quiseuberry,  February  28,  1868. 


US.)  John  Butler  to  John  Quiseuberry,  deed. 

Be  it  known  unto  all  men  by  these  presents  that  I,  John  Butler,  of  the 
County  of  Westmoreland,  in  Virginia,  planter,  for  a  full  and  valuable  con¬ 
sideration  in  hand  paid  before  the  signing  and  sealing  hereof,  by  John 
Quisenbury,  of  the  same  place,  planter,  wherewith  I  acknowledge  to  be  fully 
satisfied,  have  bargained,  aliened,  sold,  enfeoffed  and  continued,  and  doe  by 
these  presents  bargain,  alien  and  sell,  assign,  enfeoff  and  confirm  unto  the 
said  John  Quisenbury  a  certain  parcell  of  land  containing  one  hundred  acres, 
being  part  of  a  dividend  of  land  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  acres  of 
land  granted  unto  me,  the  said  John  Butler,  by  patent  from  the  Governor 
and  Council,  which  said  359  acres  I.  the  said  John  Butler,  am  now  seated  on; 
the  said  100  acres  of  laud  being  bounded  as  followetli,  to  wit:  Beginning  at  a 
marked  dogwood  tree  standing  on  the  east  side  of  a  run,  and  in  the  line  of 
the  land  of  Mr.  Thomas  Pope,  and  extending  along  the  said  Pope’s  line  E.  100 
poles,  thence  S.  80  poles,  then  SW.  to  the  aforesaid  run,  finally  down  said  run 
to  the  said  dogwood  tree— to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  100  acres  of  land  to 
him,  the  said  John  Quisenbury,  his  heirs  or  assigns  forever,  with  all  rights 
and  privileges  thereunto  belonging  in  as  large  and  ample  manner  to  all  in¬ 
tents  and  purposes  as  is  to  me  granted  by  said  patent,  yielding  and  paying 
unto  me,  the  said  John  Butler,  my  heirs  or  assigns,  yearly,  at  the  feast  of  St. 
Michael  the  Archangel,  the  fee  of  two  shillings.  And  furthermore,  I,  the  said 
John  Butler,  doe  hereby,  for  me  and  my  heirs,  warrant  the  sale  of  the  said 
land  to  the  said  John  Quisenbury,  his  heirs  or  assigns,  against  the  claim  or 
claims  of  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  as  also  to  acknowledge  this 
sale  of  land  at  the  next  term  of  Court.  In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto 
set  my  hand  and  seal  this  17tli  of  January,  1666.  JOHN  BUTLER. 

Teste:  William  Horton,  John  Bell. 

12tli  February,  1666-7,  this  bill  of  sale  was  acknowledged  in  court  and 
then  recorded. 


(14.)  Malachy  Peale  to  John  Quisenbury,  assignment. 

I,  the  subscriber,  do  assign  to  John  Quisenbury,  senr.,  his  heirs  or  as¬ 
signs,  the  remaining  part  of  the  within  pattent,  being  two  hundred  acres, 
more  or  less,  to  the  said  John  Quisenbury,  his  heirs  or  assigns  forever;  as 
witness  my  hand  and  seal  this  25tli  November,  1691.  MALACHY  PEALE. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  Joshua  Davis,  John  San¬ 
ford. 

Westmoreland  set. — At  a  court  held  for  the  county  the  25tli  day  of  No¬ 
vember,  1691,  Mr.  Malachy  Peale  came  into  court  and  acknowledged  the  above 
assignment  to  be  his  proper  act  and  deed,  and  the  land  and  premises  con¬ 
veyed  thereby  to  be  the  just  and  rightful  property  of  the  above-named  John 
Quisenbury,  which,  together  with  the  said  instrument,  is  entered  on  the 
records  of  the  said  county.  JAMES  WESTCOMB,  C.  W.  C. 

(Note. — The  patent  to  Malachy  Peale  is  not  of  record  in  this  county.  In 
the  deed  from  said  Peale  to  Francis  Williams  for  300  acres  of  land  (part  of 


APPENDIX. 


173 


this  patent)  it  is  stated  that  said  Peale's  patent  is  dated  November  29,  1078, 
for  843  acres  of  land.  After  making  one  other  conveyance  of  his  land  (part 
of  this  patent)  said  Peale  makes  the  within  assignment  to  John  Quiseubury.— 
M.  L.  Hutt.) 


(15.)  Christopher  Pritchett  to  Humphrey  Quiseubury,  patent,  bond,  deed,  &e. 

To  all,  &c.,  whereas,  &c.,  now  know  ye  that  I,  William  Berkeley,  Lieuten¬ 
ant  Governor,  &c.,  doe,  with  the  consent  of  the  Council  of  State,  accordingly 
give  and  grant  unto  Philip  Wadding  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  situate, 
lying  and  being  in  the  forest  on  the  north  side  of  Rappahannock  county, 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Popetoe  (Perpeto)  Creeke,  near  a  pathside  that 
goeth  from  Rappahannock  county  to  Pope’s  Creeke  in  Potomac  River,  and 
beginning  at  a  marked  oak,  being  a  corner  tree  of  a  parcel  of  land  belonging 
to  Major  John  Weir  and  Mr.  Thomas  Dun,  and  running  from  the  said  oak 
N.  44  poles  to  a  red  oak  on  the  south  side  of  a  hill,  thence  E.  NE.  08  poles 
into  a  vale  to  a  line  of  trees  belonging  to  Thomas  Phelps,  thence  near  the 
said  line  of  trees  belonging  to  said  Phelps  78  poles  to  a  red  oak  standing 
near  the  head  of  a  vale  near  a  path,  thence  SE.  and  S.  70  poles  to  a  swamp, 
thence  by  or  near  the  said  swamp  S.  SE.  90  poles  to  a  run-side,  thence  with 
the  said  run  S.  SW.  110  poles,  thence  W.100  poles,  thence  NW.  00  poles,  thence 
N  120  poles  to  the  place  we  first  began;  the  said  land  being  due  unto  the  said 
Wadding  by  and  for  the  transportation  of  six  persons  into  this  colony, 
whose  names  are  on  the  records  mentioned  under  this  patent— to  have  and  to 
hold,  &c.  Given  at  James  Citty  under  my  hand  and  the  seal  of  the  Colony 
this  20th  day  of  October,  lGGti.  WILLIAM  BERKELEY. 

30th  December,  1G68,  this  patent  was  recorded. 

. Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  I,  Philip  Wadding,  have  bar¬ 
gained,  aliened,  sold,  assigned  and  made  over  to  Thomas  Pritchett  or  his 
heirs  or  assigns  forever,  all  my  right,  title  and  interest  of  this  patient,  with 
the  land  therein  mentioned;  and  further,  I  doe  bind  myself  or  my  heirs  or 
assigns  to  warrant  the  same  to  the  aforesaid  Pritchett,  his  heirs  or  assigns 
forever;  and  further,  I  doe  bind  myself  or  my  assigns  to  acknowledge  this 
assignment  in  the  County  Court  of  Westmoreland.  In  witness  whereof  I 
have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  this  28th  day  of  December,  16G8. 

PHILIP  WADDING. 

30th  December,  1G68,  this  assignment  of  land  was  acknowledged  in  court 
and  recorded: 

....Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  I,  Christopher  Pritchett,  son  and 
heir  of  Thomas  Pritchett,  of  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  have  and  do  here¬ 
by  alien,  bargain,  sell,  enfeoff  and  confirm  all  my  right,  title  and  interest  of 
the  within  pattent  unto  Umphrey  Quiseubury,  of  the  county  aforesaid,  to 
him,  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators  or  assigns  forever,  having  received 
a  full  and  valuable  consideration  for  the  same  (except  100  acres  of  land,  more 
or  less,  sold  to  John  Wade,  lying  on  the  north  side  of  the  great  road  that 
goeth  from  Pope’s  Creek  to  Perpeto  Creek,  and  so  east  to  a  locust  post,  and 
from  that  post  to  another  locust  post,  so  from  these  two  posts  down  a  point 
by  a  line  of  marked  trees  to  a  branch,  including  the  aforesaid  100  acres, 
more  or  less,  as  is  above-mentioned),  and  1,  the  aforesaid  Christopher  Pritch¬ 
ett,  do  hereby  warrant  and  will  forever  defend  the  title  of  the  within  men¬ 
tioned  land  from  me,  my  heirs,  executors,  administrators,  or  assigns,  and 
oblidge  myself  or  my  lawful  attorney,  and  also  my  wife,  Jane,  to  make  a  due 
and  true  acknowledgement  hereof  in  the  County  Court  of  Westmoreland.  In 
confirmation  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  affixed  my  seal  this 
6th  of  July,  anno  dom.,  1G95.  CHRISTOPHER  PRITCHETT. 

Sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  us:  James  Taylor,  George  Day. 

....This  indenture  made  the  Gth  day  of  July  anno  dom.  1695,  and  in  the 
sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  and  Lady,  William  and  Mary. 


174 


APPENDIX. 


of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland,  King  and  Queen.  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  &c„  between  Christopher  Pritchett,  of  Westmoreland  county  and 
Washington  parish,  of  the  one  part,  and  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  of  the  same 
county  and  parish,  of  the  other  part,  slieweth  that  Christopher  Pritchett, 
aforesaid,  for  and  in  consideration  of  9,000  pounds  of  good  Orronoco  tobacco 
and  casks,  to  him  in  hand  paid  at  and  before  the  sealing  and  delivery  of  these 
presents,  by  the  above  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury  well  and  truly  paid,  the 
receipt  whereof  the  said  Christopher  Pritchett  doth  hereby  acknowledge  him¬ 
self  fully  satisfied  and  paid,  doth  hereby  alienate,  bargain,  sell,  alien,  enfeoff 
and  confirm,  and  bv  these  presents  doth  fully,  clearly,  and  absolutely  give, 
grant,  bargain,  sell,  enfeoff  and  confirm  unto  the  above  said  Humphrey 
Quisenbury.  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators  or  assigns  forever,  a  certain 
tract  or  pareell  of  land  by  estimation  as  is  comprised  and  mentioned  in  a 
certain  pattent  granted  to  Philip  Wadding,  and  by  the  said  Wadding  assigned 
to  Thomas  Pritchett,  late  of  this  county,  deceased,  bearing  date  the  20tli  day 
of  October,  1006,  all  the  whole  moiety  or  quantity  of  said  land  contained  in 
the  said  patent  (except  100  acres  of  land  sold  out  of  the  said  patent  unto 
John  Wade,  of  the  county  aforesaid  bounded  and  lying  as  is  comprised 
in  a.  certain  deed  of  sale  bearing  date  with  these  presents,  for  100  acres  of 
land,  more  or  less)— to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  tract  of  land  contained  in 
the  patent  as  aforesaid,  with  all  and  singular  its  rights,  privilidges,  woods, 
underwoods,  ways,  easements,  with  all  buildings,  orchards,  fences,  together 
with  all  profits  and  commodities  whatsoever  thereunto  belonging,  unto  the 
said  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators  and  assigns, 
forever,  against  him  the  said  Christopher  Pritchett,  his  heirs,  executors, 
administrators,  and  all  and  every  other  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  law¬ 
fully  claiming  by,  from,  or  under  him,  them,  or  any  of  them,  shall  and  will 
warrant  and  forever  defend  by  these  presents  from  any  or  all  person  or 
persons  whatsoever,  or  from  any  other  person  claiming  by  my  means,  pro¬ 
curement,  peaceably  and  quietly  to  possess  the  same,  without  any  manner 
of  molestation,  interruption  or  eviction  whatsoever:  and  it  is  hereby  agreed 
to  by  the  abovesaid  Christopher  Pritchett  that  if  this  deed  of  sale  prove  not 
good  and  authentiek  in  law  as  by  the  advice  and  skillful  attorney  shall  be 
required,  then  he  the  said  Christopher  Pritchett  doth  oblidge  himself  to  give 
what  further  satisfaction  as  shall  be  required  to  strentken  and  establish  the 
title:  and  also  further  oblidges  that  lie  himself  and  also  his  wife,  Jane,  make 
a  due  and  true  acknowledgement  of  this  deed  of  sale  in  the  County  Court 
of  Westmoreland,  when  thereunto  desired  by  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury; 
only  it  is  hereby  agreed  by  the  parties  aforesaid  that  Christopher  Pritchett 
and  his  family  shall  privilidge  for  house  room  and  firing  until  the  last  of 
April  next  ensuing.  In  confirmation  of  the  above  premises,  and  of  every 
article  therein  contained,  Christopher  Pritchett  abovesaid  and  his  wife,  Jane, 
have  hereunto  set  their  hands  and  affixed  their  seals  the  day  and  year  above 
mentioned.  CHRISTOPHER  PRITCHETT. 

JANE  PRITCHETT. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  us:  James  Taylor,  George  Day. 

Westmoreland  set.— At  a  court  held  for  the  said  county  the  28th  day  oyf 
August,  1095.  Christopher  Pritchett  within  named  came  into  court  and  ac¬ 
knowledged  the  within  instrument  to  be  his  proper  act  and  deed,  and  the 
lands  and  premises  conveyed  thereby  to  be  the  just  right  and  inheritance 
of  the  within  named  Humphrey  Quisenbury:  and  Jane  Pritchett,  wife  of  the 
said  Christopher,  came  also  into  court  and  voluntarily  relinquished  her  right 
of  dower  and  thirds  in  and  to  the  same,  and  every  part  thereof;  all  of  which 
is  ordered  to  be  recorded.  Teste:  .Tames  Westeomb,  C.  W.  C. 

.  ..  .Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  I,  Christopher  Pritchett,  of  West¬ 
moreland  County,  stand  justly  bound  unto  Humphrey  Quisenberry,  of  the 
county  abovesaid,  his  heirs  and  executors  in  the  full  sum  of  18,000  pounds  of 
good  tobacco  and  casks,  payable  convenient  upon  demand,  for  the  true 
performance  I  bind  myself,  my  heirs,  executors  and  administrators  firmly  by 
these  presents.  In  confirmation  I  have  hereunto  sett  my  hand  and  seal  this 


appendix. 


175 


01  h  day  of  July  anno  dom.,  1095.  The  condition  of  this  obligation  is  such 
that  if  the  above  bound  Christopher  Pritchett  doe  well  and  truly  observe, 
perform,  accomplish  and  keep  all  and  singular  the  covenants,  grants,  articles, 
clauses,  conditions  and  agreements  whatsoever  which  on  his  part  are  or  ought 
to  be  observed,  performed,  fulfilled  and  kept,  mentioned  or  comprised  in  an 
indenture  or  deed  of  mile  for  land,  bearing  date  with  these  presents,  then 
this  obligation  is  to  be  void  and  of  no  effect, — otherwise  to  stand  in  full  force 
and  virtue.  CHRISTOPHER  PRITCHETT. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  us:  James  Taylor,  Geo.  Day. 

Teste:  James  Westeomb,  C.  W.  C. 


(16.)  Deposition  of  John  Quisenbury. 

Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  ss. — John  Quisenbury,  aged  eighty  years 
or  thereabouts,  being  examined  and  sworn  on  the  Holy  Evangelist 
of  God,  doth  say  that  about  fifty  years  ago  Mrs.  Wingate,  a  nigh  relation  to 
old  Mrs.  Vaulx,  her  husband  (that  first  took  up  the  said  land  called  Vaulx- 
land),  being  in  England,  came  up  to  the  said  Wingate’s  with  surveyors  and 
seated  the  plantation  now  called  Vaulx  Quarter.  Your  deponent  desired  (he 
fad  Wingate  to  speak  to  Mrs.  Vaulx  to  sell  him  part  of  the  said  land,  who 
seemed  to  be  willing,  and  sent  up  the  patent  with  orders  to  Mr.  William 
Horton  to  lay  out  the  same,  who  did  forthwith  lay  out  the  same  at  the  time 
aforesaid,  and  your  deponent  went  with  the  said  surveyor  in  laying  out  the 
said  land,  and  well  remembers  yt  yr.  Deponent  did  help  to  make  the  line 
next  to  Potomac  River,  or  part  thereof,  which  took  in  the  plantation  of 
Vaulx  Quarter,  and  likewise  the  line  of  fifteen  hundred  poles,  and  the  next 
line,  next  to  Rappahannock  River  which  included  a  plantation  formerly 
seated  by  one  Mr.  Lane,  since  Allen  Moun joy,  and  further  saith  not. 

JOHN  QUISENBURY. 

In  obedience  to  an  order  of  the  Westmoreland  County  Court  we  have 
taken  the  above  deposition  at  the  place  and  time  appointed  in  the  said  order. 
Given  under  our  hands  this  Hist  day  of  January,  1707. 

LEWIS  MARKHAM. 

CALEB  BUTLER. 

ANDR.  MUNROE. 

The  within  deposition  was  entered  on  the  records  of  Westmoreland 
County  the  25th  day  of  February,  1707.  J.  A.  WESTCOMB, 

Cl.  Com.  Prd. 

Montross,  Va„  June  16,  1888. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Quisenberry: 

My  Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  In  regard  to  the  deposition  of  John  Quisenbury 
(1707)  I  will  say  it  is  as  intelligble  to  you  as  it  is  to  me.  The  original  deposi¬ 
tion  book  in  which  said  deposition  is  recorded  has  been  transcribed  and,  1 
suppose,  the  original  book  destroyed.  I  believe  errors  have  often  crept  into 
the  records  through  careless  transcribers.  *  *  *  I  have  failed  to  find  a 
deed  from  Mrs.  Vaulx  to  John  Quisenbury  for  the  land  mentioned  in  said 
deposition.  *  *  *  The  record  of  criminal  cases  do  not  throw  any  light  upon 
the  early  history  of  the  Quisenberry  family,  as  their  names  do  not  appear 
on  that  docket:  and  1  fail  to  find  anything  among  the  civil  cases  that  would 
interest  you.  I  will  say  that  the  deed  from  John  Butler  to  John  Quisenbury, 
dated  January  16,  1666,  is  the  first  mentioned  or  relating  to  the  Quisenberrys 
on  our  records.  1  can  not  trace  or  find  out  what  became  of  the  200  acres  of 
land  bought  by  Humphrey  Quisenbury  from  Christopher  Pritchett  et  ii.r ., 
deed  dated  July  6,  1695,  in  deed  book  2,  page  36.  The  records  fail  to  show 
what  he  did  with  his  said  land.  It  must  have  passed  to  his  heirs  at  law. 
I  suppose,  or  was  escheated.  I  can’t  think,  myself,  that  this  was  the  same 
Humphrey  Quisenbury  whose  will  was  probated  in  1776:  for,  as  you  say, 
“assuming  that  he  was  at  least  21  years  old  when  he  bought  the  laud  in  1695, 


176 


APPENDIX. 


he  would  have  been  102  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1776”— a  period 
not  often  allotted  to  men.  1  will  look  over  the  records  and  see  what  I  can 
find  in  reference  to  Francis  Quisenberry,  who  witnessed  the  will  of  John 
Quisenbury  in  1714.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  M.  L.  HUTT. 


(17.)  Will  of  John  Quisenbury. 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen!  I,  John  Quisenbury,  of  the  parish  of  Wash¬ 
ington  and  County  of  Westmoreland,  being  sick  of  body,  but  of  perfect  mind 
and  memory,  doe  make,  ordain  and  appoint  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament 
in  manner  and  form  following,  viz,  revoking  and  disannulling  all  and  every 
Will  and  Wills  and  Testaments  by  me  heretofore  made  and  declared  either 
by  word  or  writing,  and  this  to  be  taken  only  for  my  last  Will  and  Testament, 
and  none  other;  and  being  penitent  and  sorry  for  my  past  sins  and  humbly 
praying  forgiveness  for  them,  I  give  my  soul  unto  almighty  God  my  saviour 
and  redeemer,  and  believe  myself  to  be  assuredly  saved,  and  that  my  soul 
with  my  body  at  the  Generali  Day  of  resurrection  shall  rise  again  with  joy 
and  Inherit  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  prepared  for  his  Elect;  and  my  body  to 
be  decently  interred  at  the  discretion  of  my  Executors  hereafter  named;  and 
my  worldly  estate  I  give  and  bequeath  in  manner  and  form  following: 

it  is  my  will  that  all  my  just  debts  be  paid  by  my  executors  hereafter 
named. 

I  give  unto  my  son  William  Quisenbury  all  my  lands  in  generall  to  him 
and  the  heirs  of  his  body  lawfully  begotten,  and  in  case  of  no  such  heir,  then 
to  my  son  Humphrey  Quisenbury  and  to  the  heirs  of  his  body  lawfully 
begotten,  and  in  case  of  no  such  heir,  then  to  the  next  heir  at  law. 

I  give  unto  my  son  Humphrey  Quisenbury  one  gunu  now  in  his  possession, 
and  one  horse,  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever. 

I  give  unto  my  loveing  wife  Anne  Quisenbury  all  my  personall  estate  in 
generall,  both  within  doors  and  without,  and  she  to  dispose  of  it  as  she  shall 
think  fitt. 

Lastly,  I  nominate  and  appoint  my  loveing  wife  Anne  Quisenbury  my 
whole  and  sole  Executrix  of  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  affixed  my  seale 
this  23d  day  of  November,  1714.  JOHN  QUISENBURY. 

Made,  signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of 

WILLIAM  (his  X  mark)  GRIFFIN. 
FRANCIS  (his  X  mark)  QUISENBURY. 
HUMPHREY  POPE. 

At  a  court  held  for  the  said  county  the  27th  day  of  November,  1717,  this 
last  will  and  testament  of  John  Quisenbury,  deceased,  was  presented  into 
Court  by  Ann,  his  relict  and  executrix,  who  made  oath  thereto,  and  being 
proved  by  the  oaths  of  Francis  Quisenberry  and  Humphrey  Pope,  two  of  the 
witnesses  thereto,  is  admitted  to  record,  and  upon  the  motion  of  the  said 
Executrix,  and  her  performing  bond,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  certificate  is 
granted  for  her  obtaining  a  probate  thereof  in  due  form. 

Teste;  THOMAS  SORRELL,  C.  W.  C. 


(18.)  Estate  of  John  Quisenbury,  Inventory  and  Appraisement. 

Westmoreland  County,  ss.— 17th  of  January,  1717-'8.— In  obedience  to  an 
order  of  said  Court  held  for  the  said  county  the  27tli  day  of  November,  1717, 
the  subscribers  have  mett  at  the  house  of  John  Quisenbury,  deceased,  and 
being  sumond  and  sworn  before  Mr.  Augustine  Higgins,  one  of  his  Majesty's 
Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  said  county,  have  valued  and  appraised  the 
personal  estate  as  followeth;  to-witt: 


APPENDIX. 


177 


£  s.  d. 

Out  of  doors:  1  young  horse,  4  yr.  old .  2  10  0 

4  cows  and  2  calves  £6  8s. ;  4  ewes  @  Os.  each;  1  old  mare  £1,  5s.  8  19  0 

9  cyd>  r  casks,  all  old,  @  3s .  17  0 

1  leather  lied,  bolster,  rugg,  blankett  sheets,  pillow  and  bedstead  2  10  0 

1  feather  bed,  bolster,  and  2  old  blauketts .  2  0  0 

59  ells  lining  @  l^d.  per  ell;  1  boy’s  liatt,  2s.  Od .  2  12  8 

1  i  r.  small  stilliards,  13s.;  4 '/i  yds  Serge  @  Is.  Od;  1  pr  men’s 

shoes  2s.  8d .  1  2  5 

TV.  yds  stuff  druggett  @  15d.:  a  suite  of  old  wearing  clothes,  10s.  19  4y> 

2  tables,  1  chest,  all  old,  £2;  3  meal  sifters,  all  old.  2s,  Od .  2  2  0 

)  brass  mortar  and  pestle  aud  2  brass  candlesticks .  5  0 

91  lbs.  of  old  pewter  @  7d;  1  stear,  2  yrs  old,  15s .  3  8  0 

A  parcell  of  old  coopers  tools,  bottles  and  old  iron,  &  5  iron  potts, 

all  old  .  4  10  0 

1  young  hors  and  1  young  mare  2  yrs  old . .  3  0  0 

13  sows  and  barrows  2  yrs  old,  each  Os .  3  18  0 

1  cart  and  wheels,  saddle,  collar  and  harness,  old .  1  7  0 

1  feather  bed,  bolster,  rugg,  blankett,  sheets,  pillows  and  bed¬ 

stead  .  3  10  0 

2  feather  beds,  bolsters,  1  rugg,  bolster  and  blauketts,  1  pr 

sheets  .  5  00  0 

1  trunk  and  2  old  chests  10s.;  4  shirts  and  2  neckcloths  10s .  1  12  0 

0  yds  muslebrough  stuff  @  4d.;  1  pr  large  stilliards,  out  of 

order  15s .  17  4 

4  yds  Kersie  @  20d.;  1  pr  serge  breeches,  lined  8s.;  3%  yds  drug¬ 
get  @  15d .  19  OVi 

4  old  gunns  15s.;  1  copper  warming  pan  and  1  looking  glass  16s.  3  10  0 

1  paper  trunk  2s.;  1  cross  cutt  saw  Os.;  a  parcell  of  old  books  9s..  17  0 

1  mare,  young,  in .  1  10  0 


55  i  ny2 

Hump:  Pope,  Jno:  Motliased,  M.  D.,  Danll:  Field,  junr. 

Jaury  ye  29th,  1717-18,  returned  into  court,  aud  recorded  ye  17tli  of  Feb. 
next  following. 


(19.)  Mary  Hazel  to  James  Quiseuberry,  deed. 

This  indenture  made  lliis  25th  day  of  June,  1748,  between  Mary  Hazel, 
widow  of  John  Hazel,  dec'd,  of  the  county  of  Westmoreland  and  parish  of 
Washington,  of  t lie  one  part,  and  .Tames  Quiseubury,  planter,  of  the  county 
and  parish  afsd.,  of  the  other  part,  wituesseth:  that  the  said  Mary  Hazel  for 
and  in  consideration  of  promises  made  and  to  be  performed  by  sd  James 
Quiseuberry,  that  he  is  to  find  her  in  sufficient  maintainance — that  is,  suf 
ficient  clothing,  meat,  drink,  washing  and  lodging— according  to  the  qualities 
of  her  estate,  that  she  is  now  possest  wth  and  will  be  possest  wtli  durg  her 
natural  life,  for  which  promises  and  performances  agreed  to  and  to  be  per¬ 
formed  by  the  sd  James  Quiseuberry  to  the  sd  Mary  Hazel,  she  hath  of  her 
own  voluntary  free  good  will  made  over  all  her  right  and  title  of  all  her 
land,  negroes,  household  goods  and  stocks  of  all  kinds  that  she  is  now  possest 
wth  or  shall  be  possest  wth  during  her  natural  life,  to  the  said  James  Quisen- 
berry,  for  him  or  his  to  doe  or  act  with  as  they  shall  think  proper;  and  for 
her  personable  estate  to  remain  to  him  the  said  James  Quisenberry  and  his 
heirs  forever;  to  which  presents  instrumt  of  writing  the  parties  above  men¬ 
tioned  interchangeably  set  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  above 
written.  MARY  HAZEL,  ‘ 

JAMES  QUISENBERRY. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presents  off  Wm:  Settle  and  Benj: 
Dodd. 

Recorded  August  0th,  1748,  per  George  Lee,  C.  W.  C. 


178 


APPENDIX. 


(•20.)  William  Queseubury  to  his  sous,  deed. 

To  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come:  Know  ye  that  I,  William 
Quesenhury.  of  the  parish  of  Washington  and  county  of  Westmoreland,  for 
the  natural  love  which  1  bare  unto  my  three  sons,  John,  William  and  Nich¬ 
olas  Quesenhury,  do  give  and  grant  unto  them  the  said  John,  William  and 
Nicholas  Quesenhury  and  their  heirs,  executors  and  administrators,  and  to 
each  of  them  50  acres  of  land  (they  now  live  on  it),  being  part  of  the  land 
1  now  live  on,  which  said  fifty  acres  of  land  to  each  of  them  I,  the  said 
William  Quesenhury,  do  fully,  clearly  and  absolutely  remise,  release  and 
confirm  and  forever  quit-claim  unto  my  three  sons,  now  in  their  peaceable 
possession,  to  them  the  said  John,  William  and  Nicholas  Quesenhury,  and 
their  heirs  forever,  all  such  rights,  titles,  interest  and  demand  whatsoever 
as  he,  the  said  William  Quesenhury,  hath  had  or  ought  to  have  of,  in  and  to 
all  the  hereby  given  lands  and  premises  lying  and  being  in  the  parish  of 
1\  asliiugton  and  county  aforesaid,  and  near  to  the  place  commonly  known 
and  called  by  the  name  of  Bottom’s  Old  Field,  to  have  aud  to  hold  the 
aforesaid  land  and  premises  with  all  rights,  members  and  appurtenances 
thereunto  belonging,  or  in  any  wise  appertaining  unto  them,  the  said  John, 
William  and  Nicholas  Queseubury,  and  to  their  heirs  forever,  to  the  only 
proper  use  and  behoof  of  them,  the  said  John,  William  and  Nicholas  Quesen- 
bury  and  their  heirs  forever;  which  land  and  premises  I,  the  said  William 
Quesenhury  will,  by  these  presents,  warrant  and  ever  defend.  In  witness 
whereof  I,  the  said  William  Queseubury,  hath  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
seal  this  25th  day  of  August,  anno  domini,  1740. 

WILLIAM  QUESENBURY. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  prence  of  us:  Nich;  Miner,  sr.,  Nick: 
Miner,  jr.;  Steward  Miner. 

Westmoreland,  ss. — At  a  court  held  for  the  said  county  the  26tli  day  of 
August,  1740.  William  Queseubury  personally  acknowledged  tli is  deed  of  gift 
of  land  by  him  passed  and  conveyed  to  his  three  sons,  John,  William  and 
Nicholas  Quesenhury,  to  be  his  proper  act  aud  deed;  which,  at  the  instance 
of  the  said  donor,  is  admitted  to  record. 

Teste;  GEORGE  TUBERVILLE,  C.  W.  C. 


(21.)  Nicholas  Quesenhury,  Inventory  yand  Appraisement  of  Estate. 

In  obedience  to  an  order  of  court  made  the  27tli  day  of  March,  1750,  we. 
flie  subscribers,  being  first  sworn,  have  valued  and  appraised  the  estate  of 


Nicholas  Quesenburv,  dec'd,  in  manner  and  form  following,  vizt: 

£  s.  d. 

2  cows  and  calves  £3,  1  heifer  £1,  3  cows  and  calves  £4  15s.  8  15  0 

1  bull  and  1  young  heifer  £2,  21  young  lioggs  £3  3s,  1  horse  £4.  0  3  0 

1  young  horse  £1  15,  1  mare  and  colt  £1,  5,  1  mare  and  colt  £7.  10  0  0 

1  still  £7,  1  old  tubb  and  8  old  cyder  casks  £2,  1,  2  sides  of  soal 

leather  10s.  9  11  0 

9  shtep  £2,  5,  a  parcell  of  Cooper’s  tools  6s,  a  pareell  of  carpen¬ 
ter’s  old  tools  8s.  2  19 

1  handsaw  3s,  3  old  reaphooks  Is,  1  pr  old  screws  Is  8d,  1  wire 

sieve,  5s.  10  8 

1  riddle  Is  6d,  2  old  sifters  Js,  1  earthen  pott  8s,  1  old  tubb  (id, 

1  old  earthen  pott  Is  6d.  5  2 

3  cyder  casks  18s,  5  small  casks  £1,  5s,  1  powdering  tub  3s,  a 

pareell  of  old  leather  7s.  2  13  0 

7  bottles  Is  9d,  1  old  table  Is,  8  tubs  £1,  4s,  1  pr  pistols  £1,  1 

gun  £1,  5s.  3  11  9 

1  small  sugar  box  4s,  4  small  jarrs  6s,  2  glasses  lOd,  1  small  tea- 

pott,  1  saucer  and  earthen  plate  10d.  11  8 

1  quart  and  pint  pott  3s,  1  old  candlestick  Is,  1  pepper  box  4d, 

1  chest  of  drawers  £2,  5s,  1  oval  table  £1,  5s.  3  14  4 


APPENDIX. 


179 


£  s 

5  old  leather  chairs  15s  5d,  old  ditto  flagged  os,  1  old  oval  table 

os.  2  pr  spoon  moulds,  10s.  1  15 

A  parcel  of  shoemaker’s  old  tools  4s,  1  old  trunk  Os,  1  box  2s  6d, 

1  glass  6d.  13 

1  old  warming  pan  3s,  1  box  iron  heaters  2s  Oil,  3  beds  and  furni¬ 
ture  £9.  10s.  9  15 

1  bed  and  furniture  £1,  10,  1  joynter  2s  (id,  1  box  (id,  1  old  saddle 

and  howzing  10s.  3  3 

8  hoes  8s,  a  parcel  of  old  iron  12s,  2  wedges  Gd,  1  lire  shovel  2s  (id, 

1  gridiron  2s  (id,  1  ladle  and  tlesh  forks,  5s.  1  1(5 

1  seimer  3s,  1  frying  pan  4s,  1  do  Is  (id,  1  kettle  £1,  5s,  1  bell 

mental  skillet  3s;  1  pott,  5s.  2  1 

1  iron  skillet  2s,  1  bell  metal  spice  mortar  8s,  1  old  funnel  2d, 

!/>  doz.  pewter  plates  12s.  1  2 

7  dishes  £1  2s,  G  basons  17s,  2  old  basons  5s,  a  parcel  of  old 

pewter  Gs,  %  doz.  supe  plates  12s.  3  2 

1  salt  seller  lOd,  3  pr  pott  hooks  Gs,  1  old  broad  axx  Is  (id,  1 

spinning  wheel  (5s.  14 

1  grinding  stone  Gs,  2  sows  and  7  piggs  £1  2s,  3  sows  with  pigg 

Is  3d,  1  iron  pott  4s,  parcel  of  pails  and  piggons  7s.  3  2 

1  negro  fellow  .Tack  £35,  1  negro  boy  Peter  £25,  1  negro  girl  Moll 

£20,  1  negro  girl  Pegg  £15  95  0 

1  negro  girl  Kate  £10,  1  old  negro  Kate  £2.  12  0 


d 

0 

0 

G 

0 

0 

G 

2 

0 

4 

0 

0 

0 


Total,  184  19  1 

Thomas  Shaw,  Nathaniel  Gerrard,  Nathaniel  Mothershead,  appraisers. 
Recorded  the  4th  day  of  May,  1750. 

Teste;  GEORGE  LEE,  C.  W.  C. 


(22.)  Nicholas  Quisenbury,  Inventory  and  Appraisement  of  Estate. 


Westmoreland,  set. — In  obedience  to  an  order  of  Port,  bearing  date  the 
2Gth  day  of  August,  1755,  we  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  first 
sworn  before  Major  John  Martin,  gentleman,  one  of  TIis  Majesty’s  Justices 
for  the  said  county,  do  value  and  appraise  the  estate  of  Niclis:  Quisenbury, 
dec’d,  in  money,  as  followeth: 

£  s.  d. 


3  cows  and  calves  @  30s,  £4,  10s,  1  cow  £1,  13s,  1  cow,  £1,  10s,  1 
1  low  bed  £2  10,  2  old  chests  5s,  1  pr  money  scales  4s,  2  razors 

young  bull  £1  10,  1  high  bed  &  turn.  £6  14  15 

and  1  old  hone  Is  3d,  1  sugar  box  2s,  1  pr  shoe  buckles  Gd.  3  2 

1  man’s  saddle  Gs,  1  spinning  wheel  8s,  17  quart  bottles  4s  3d,  1 

pottle  bottle  (id,  1  doz  knives  Gs,  %  doz  pocket  knives  2s  Gd.  2  7 

2  square  tables  5s,  1  cross-legd  table  3s,  7  stools  4s,  1  looking 

glass  3s  Gd,  1  ladle  and  flesh  fork  2s  (id.  18 

1  skimer  Gd,  2  washing  tubs  8s  2d,  2  water  pails  &  2  piggins  8s, 

1  wooden  tray  &  1  bole  9d,  1  pr.  traces,  collar  and  hames  8s.  18 

2  frying  pans  (is,  1  butter  pot  2s  (id,  5  old  hoes  3s  4d,  2  old  axes 

5s,  1  iron  pessel  Is,  9  geese  9s.  1  G 

1  spice  mortar  &  pessel  7s  Gd.  1  bell  metal  skillet  2s  Gd,  1G  lbs 

new  pewter  £1  4,  10  lbs  old  do.  10s,  19  pewter  spoons  3s.  2  7 

1  earthen  plate,  1  pepper  box.  1  stone  mugg  Is,  1  old  meal  sifter 
Is,  35  lbs.  pot  iron  5s  lOd,  2  lbs  old  do.  2s  9d,  2  pr  pot¬ 
hooks  3s  (id.  14 

A  parcel  of  iron  lumber  2s,  a  parcel  of  cotton  2s.  1  suit  of  men's 

cloatlies  £3,  1  cow  and  calf  £1  5.  4  9 

3  liefers  £2,  2  sows  £1.  10  young  hogs  £3  11  0.  G  11 

1  negro  woman  named  Sarah  £25,  1  negro  garl  named  Jenny  £25, 

1  do  named  Frank  £30.  80  0 


0 

9 


3 


0 

9 

10 

0 


o 

0 

G 

0 


Errors  excepted.  117  10  3 

Lawrence  Butler,  Nathaniel  Butler,  Humphrey  Pope,  appraisers. 


180 


APPENDIX. 


t23.)  Christopher  Quisenberry,  Inventory  and  Appraisement  of  Estate. 


Westmoreland,  set.— In  obedience  to  an  order  of  Court  bearing  date  Oc¬ 
tober  liti.  175G,  we  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  first  sworn  before 
Benjamin  Weeks,  Gent.,  one  of  Ilis  Majesty’s  Justices  for  the  said  county, 
do  value  the  estate  of  Christopher  Quiseuberry,  dec’d,  in  money,  as  followeth: 

£  s.  d. 


1  suit  of  men’s  cloaths  £4,  1  suit  do.  £6,  1  suit  do.  £1  10,  1  old 

red  coat  &  1  pr.  breeches  £1.  5.  1*2  15 

7  white  shirts  £5.  5,  4  strip!  Holland  shirts  £1,  1  line  liatt  15s,  1 

old  liatt  2s  (id,  1  pr  shams  Is  3d.  7  3 

4  neckcloths  5s,  (i  stocks  3s,  7  linnen  caps  8s  9d,  3  linnen  handker¬ 
chiefs  4s  (id,  3  do  Is  (id.  1  2 

3  jirs  worsted  stockings  11s  3d,  2  prs  thread  do.  2s  (id,  1  pr. 

worsted  do.  2s  (id,  1  pr  silk  do.  15s.  1  11 

2  wiggs  £1,  1  pr  boots  £1,  1  pr  pumps  tis,  1  pr  do.  2s  (id,  1  pr 

chancld  do.  2s  (id,  1  chest  15s.  3  (i 

1  saddle  and  housing  £1  12  (i,  1  silver  watch  £5,  1  silver  liatt 

buckle  and  band,  3s,  2  gold  rings  15s.  7  10 

1  silver  band  buckle  4s  (id,  1  pr  silver  shoe  buckles  12s  (id,  1  doz. 

black  glass  buttons  Gd.  17 

1  pr  silver  sleeve  buttons  3s  9d,  cash  £(i(i  11  1%,  00  14 


0 


9 


9 


0 


G 


6 

ioy2 


Total,  101  2  7% 

Alexander  Thom,  Lawrence  Pope,  Humphrey  Pope,  appraisers. 


(24.)  William  Quisenlmry,  senr.,  Will. 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I,  William  Quiseuberry,  senr,  of  the  parish 
of  Washington  and  county  of  Westmoreland,  being  weak  of  body  but  of 
perfect  sences  and  memory  (blessed  be  God  for  it),  do  make  and  ordain  this 
my  last  will  and  testament  in  manner  and  form  following,  hereby  revoking 
all  other  wills  and  testaments  by  me  made. 

Imps:  I  commit  my  soul  to  God  that  give  it  me,  and  my  body  to*  the 
earth  to  be  decently  buried  by  my  executors  after  named;  and  my  worldly 
estate  I  give  and  bequeath  in  manner  and  form  following: 

Item:  I  give  to  my  daughter  Eleanor  Bayn,  one  shilling  sterling. 

Item:  I  give  to  my  grandsons  Nicholas  Quisenbury,  John  Mothershead 
and  William  Dodd,  each  one  shilling  sterling. 

Item:  I  give  to  my  son  William  Quisenbury  the  land  he  now  lives  on, 
beginning  at  a  marked  tree  (which  is  a  white  oak)  standing  in  the  mouth  of 
a  branch  which  divides  the  land  I  now  live  on  from  the  said  land,  running 
up  the  said  branch  to  a  marked  tree  on  ihe  head  of  said  branch,  then  along 
a  line  of  marked  trees  to  the  head  of  a  branch  called  Bolton  Spring,  then 
down  the  said  branch  to  the  line  of  Butler’s,  then  along  the  said  line  to  the 
main  road,  and  running  along  the  said  road  to  the  line  of  Naughty’s,  then 
along  the  sd  line  to  the  beginning— to  him  and  his  heirs  forever. 

Item:  I  give  to  my  two  daughters  Ann  and  Elizabeth  all  the  remainder 
part  of  my  land,  to  them  and  the  heirs  of  their  body  lawfully  begotten,  for¬ 
ever.  And  I  give  to  my  two  daughters  Ann  and  Elizabeth,  ail  the  remainder 
part  of  my  estate  both  within  doors  and  without,  to  them  and  their  heirs  for¬ 
ever. 

Lastly:  I  appoint  my  two  daughters,  Ann  and  Elizabeth,  executors  of 
this  my  last  will  and  testament.  In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand  and  seal  this  27th  day  of  May,  anno  dom.  17G2. 

WILLIAM  QUISENBURY. 

James  Clark,  William  Dodd,  Wm.  Weaver,  witnesses. 

At  a  court  held  for  Westmoreland  county  the  27th  day  of  July,  17G2.  this 
will  was  proved  according  to  law  by  the  oaths  of  James  Clark,  William  Wea¬ 
ver  and  William  Dodd,  the  witnesses  thereto,  and  ordered  to  be  recorded, 


APPENDIX. 


181 


and  on  motion  of  Ann  Quisenbury  and  Elizabeth  Quisenbury,  the  executors 
named  in  tue  said  will,  who  made  oath  according  to  law,  and  together  with 
John  Pope  and  William  Dodd,  their  securities,  entered  into  and  acknowledged 
bond  with  condition  as  the  law  directs,  certificate  is  granted  them  for  ob¬ 
taining  a  probat  thereof  in  due  form.  JAMES  DAVENPORT,  Ct.  Cler. 


(25.)  Humphrey  Quisenbury  to  Lawrence  Pope,  deed  of  gift,  dated  Aug. 

10,  1772. 

To  all  Christian  people  to  whom  this  present  writing  shall  come,  I, 
Humphrey  Quisenbury,  of  the  parish  of  Washington  and  county  of  West¬ 
moreland  (Planter)  sendeth  greeting  in  our  Lord  God  Everlasting.  Know  ye 
that  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  true 
love  and  paternal  affection  which  1  bear  unto  my  beloved  daughter  Jane 
Pope,  wife  of  Lawrence  Pope,  of  the  parish  of  Lunenburg  and  county  of 
Richmond,  as  well  as  other  valuable  considerations  me  hereunto  especially 
moving — have  given  and  granted  and  by  these  presents  do  give,  grant  and 
.confirm  unto  my  said  daughter  Jane  rope,  my  six  negro  slaves,  namely:  one 
negro  lad  named  Harvey,  one  ditto  named  Charles,  one  negro  woman  named 
Lucy,  and  her  three  children,  namely:  .i antes,  Kate  and  Hannah,— to  have 
and  to  hold  the  said  six  negro  slaves,  together  with  all  their  future  increase, 
unto  my  said  daughter,  Jane  Pope,  her  executors  and  administrators  and  as¬ 
signs,  henceforth  to  her  and  their  own  proper  use  and  uses  thereof  and 
therewith  to  do  and  ordain  at  her  and  their  will  and  pleasure,  as  of  their 
own  proper  goods  and  chattells,  freely,  peaceably  and  quietly,  without  any 
manner  of  lett,  hindrance,  trouble  or  denial  of  me  and  quietly,  without  any 
enbury,  my  heirs,  &c.,  or  of  or  from  any  other  person  or  persons  whatsoever. 
Of  all  the  said  premises  I,  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  have  put  the  said 
Jane  Pope  in  full  and  peaceable  possession.  (Balance  obliterated.) 

....Lawrence  Pope,  of  Richmond  county,  to  Humphrey  Quisenbury, 
bond,  £1,000  current  money,  to  be  paid  unto  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury,  his 
certain  attorney,  Ins  heirs,  &c.,  dated  10th  of  August,  1772. 

The  condition  of  this  bond  is  such  that  whereas  the  above-named  Hum¬ 
phrey  Quisenbury  hath  this  day  by  his  died  of  gift  given  to  liis  daughter  .Jane, 
wife  of  the  above-named  Lawrence  Pope,  the  following  negroes,  viz:  Harry, 
Charles,  Lucy,  James,  Kate  and  Hannah,  with  their  future  increase,  which 
said  slaves  are  given  as  a  full  satisfaction  for  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury’s 
promises  at  the  time  of  the  said  Lawrence  Pope’s  marriage  with  the  said 
Jane. 

The  condition  of  the  above  obligation  is  such  that  if  the  above-bound 
Lawrence  Pope  and  his  heirs  shall  forever  hereafter  quit-claim  to  all  and 
every  part  of  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury’s  other  estate,  and  permit  the 
same  to  be  given  by  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenbury  to  such  other  persons 
as  he  may  think  proper,  then  the  above  obligation  is  to  be  void,  otherwise  to 
remain  in  full  force  and  virtue. 


(26.)  Will  of  Humphrey  Queseubury.  (Written  by  himself.) 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  The  30tli  day  of  January,  1773,  I.  Humph 
rey  Queseubury,  of  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  being  sick  in  body  but  of 
good  and  sound  memory  (thanks  In*  to  Almighty  God),  and  calling  to  remem¬ 
brance  the  uncarteu  estate  of  this  transitory  life,  and  that  all  flesh  must  yeld 
to  Deth  when  it  shall  please  God  to  call,  do  make,  constitute  and  ordain  and 
declare  this  my  last  will  and  testament  in  manner  and  form  following,  revoke- 
ing  and  annuling  by  these  presents  all  and  every  testament  or  testaments, 
will  or  wills,  heretofore  by  me  made  and  declared  by  word  or  writing,  and 
this  is  to  be  taken  for  my  last  will  and  testament,  and  none  other. 

Item:  I  have  to  my  wife  Elizabeth  Queseubury,  my  hold  estate  now 
in  my  pursessuu,  dureiug  herr  widurehud,  for  to  rais  "bur  three  children  upon; 


182 


APPENDIX. 


and  if  she  marries,  then  to  be  taken  out  of  her  hands  into  the  hands  of  them 
as  I  shall  apint  to  take  care  of  there  estate,  which  is  all  as  I  am  pursest  with; 
and  my  will  is  for  it  to  be  equally  divided  between  my  three  children  that  I 
have  by  my  present  wife,  Elizabeth  Quesenbury,  which  is  Elizabeth  Quesen- 
bury,  Peggy  Quesenbury,  and  John  Quesenbury. 

Item:  1  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daftur,  Ann  Piper,  won  negro  whench 
named  Cate,  and  child  named  Grace. 

Item:  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daftur,  Mary  Marshall,  won  negro  boy 
named  Isuk. 

Item:  I  give  to  my  dafter,  Bethlehem  Bashaw,  one  negro  wence  named 
Jude,  and  child. 

Item:  I  give  to  my  son  in  law,  John  Pope,  live  shillings  starling,  and  to 
Jane  Pope  nine  shillings  starling. 

I  do  apint  John  Carter,  senr.,  and  Presley  Neal  executurs  of  this  my  last 
will  and  testament,  assigned  the  day  and  date  above  written. 

HUMPHREY  QUESENBURY. 

Witnesses:  Presley  Neale,  John  Carter,  Samuel  Carter. 

1770.  Westmoreland,  set.— Elizabeth  Quesenbury,  declareth  before  you 
the  gentlemen  of  the  Court,  I  do  not  abide  by  the  contents  of  my  husband, 
Humphrey  Quesenburey’s  will,  desiretli  your  goodness  to  make  an  order  and 
appoint  men  to  divide  my  property  of  his  estate  from  the  orphan’s  part.  Am 
willing  to  administer  on  the  said  estate,  and  have  prepared  security.  Am 
bound  to  pray. 

....  At  a  court  held  for  Westmoreland  county  September  24,  1770,  this 
will  was  proved  according  to  law  by  the  oaths  of  Presley  Neale 
and  John  Carter,  witnesses  thereto,  and  ordered  to  be  recorded.  Presley 
Neale,  John  Carter  and  Elizabeth  Quisenbury,  the  Exrs.  therein  named,  hav¬ 
ing  refused  to  qualify,  on  the  motion  of  the  said  Elizabeth,  who  made  oatli 
thereto,  and  together  with  James  Quesenberry  and  Charles  Dean,  junr.,  her 
securities,  entered  into  and  acknowledged  bond  as  the  law  directs;  certificate 
is  granted  her  for  obtaining  letters  of  administration  with  the  said  will  an¬ 
nexed,  in  due  form.  PRESLEY  THORNTON,  C.  W.  C. 


(27.)  An  inventory  of  Humphrey  Quisenberry’s  estate,  as  follows,  vizt: 

£  s.  d. 


5  beds  with  furniture  £35,  11  sheets  £2  15,  2  best  table  cloths, 

12s.  35  7 

Brown  linen  table  cloth  3s,  round  table  (is,  square  do.  6s,  round 

do.  £1,  pine  do  2s.  fid.  1  17 

18  flag  chairs  £1  2  black  trunks  £1  10,  2  small  gilt  trunks  4s, 

2  looking  glasses  9s.  3  19 

Case  with  8  bottles  £1  5,  desk  £1,  3  chests  15s  3d,  1  cupboard 

2s  fid,  a  parcel  of  glassware  7s  fid  3  10 

Box  Is  3d,  a  pareell  of  stoneware  15s,  coffee  pot,  8s,  parcell  of 

earthen  dishes,  potts  &  .iuggs  £1.  5.  2  9 

2  tin  pans  7s  fid,  2  pr  stilliards  £1,  2  brass  and  2  iron  candle¬ 
sticks  7s  fid,  warmiing  pan  5s.  2  0 

Chaffing  dish  2s,  1  box  and  2  flat  irons  with  2  heaters  7s  fid,  3  old 

brushes  Is  3d.  10 

1  pr  spoon  moulds  fis,  currying  knife  and  steel  3s,  1  old  gun  15s, 

parcell  of  old  iron  £2.  3  4 

1  Lamb  with  harness,  &c.,  15s,  a  parcell  of  leather  £2,  a  parcell  of 

old  casks  £1,  spinning  wheel  and  cards  15s.  4  10 

1  man’s  old  saddle  10s,  cart  and  wheels  £1,  15s,  woman’s  sad¬ 
dle  and  bridle  15s,  a  parcell  of  hoggs  £10.  13  0 

12  sheep  £fi,  20  cattle  £20,  1  black  horse  £8,  1  black  mare  and 

colt  £20,  1  young  bay  mare  £25  79  0 

1  old  black  mare  £2,  1  old  fiddle  5s,  copper  kittle  £1,  brass  do. 

10s,  2  brass  skillets  15s. 


0 

6 

0 

3 

3 

0 

9 

0 

0 

0 

0 


4  10 


APPENDIX. 


183 


1  frying  pan  4s,  1  spit  and  iron  pestle  5s,  parcell  of  iron  potts 
£1.  17,  2  pr  tongs  and  shovels  7s  (id. 

Spice  mortar  5s,  a  parcell  of  tubs  and  pails  10s,  a  parcell  of 
knives  and  forks,  3  plates,  11  spoons,  10s. 

Grindstone  5s,  sugar  box  5s,  2  wooden  sugar  boxes  2s,  1  old  quilt, 

2  table  cloths  and  1  towrel  2s. 

1  pr  small  money  scales  2s  (id,  candle  mould  and  snuffers  Is, 

3  small  canesters  Is  3,  1  bedstead  5s, 

1  set  of  razors  Is  3d,  1  sercli  and  sive  2s,  2  earthen  pots  5s,  2  ( asks 

5s,  1  rawhide  10s. 

Some  old  iron  2s,  1  frow  2s  (id,  1  quilting  frame  Is,  Negroes: 

Jacob  £70,  Moses  £05.  1 

Negroes:  Sail  £55,  Barbary  £65,  Itose  £35,  Harry  £10,  Sue  £10, 
Joe  £35,  Penny  £35,  Charity  £25.  : 

Total,  i 

The  widdow's  dower  in  slaves  allotted:  Jacob  £70.  Moses  £65 
(as  she  agreed) 

Personal  estate:  2  ueds  and  furniture  £17,  11  sheets  £2,  15,  2 
best  table  cloths  12s,  large  table  £1, 

2  black  and  2  small  gilt  trunks  £1.  14,  small  looking  glass  3s, 

chest  7s  Od,  saddle  15s,  frying  pan  4s. 

20  cattle  £20,  12  sheep  £6,  pewter  £1.  17,  1  small  round  and  1 
square  table  12s,  potts  and  spice  mortar  5s. 


£ 

s 

d 

2 

13 

6 

i 

5 

0 

14 

0 

9 

9 

i 

3 

3 

135 

5 

6 

270 

0 

0 

571 

19 

6 

135 

0 

0 

21 

7 

0 

3 

3 

6 

33 

12 

0 

Total, 


190 


By  virtue  of  an  order  of  court  bearing  date  the  29tli  of  September,  1770, 
we  have  first  appraised  the  estate  of  Humphrey  Quiseuberry,  dec’d,  as  above, 
and  then  allotted  the  widdow  her  dower  of  the  said  estate,  being  first  sworn 
according  to  law.  Dec.  13,  1776. 

Richard  Ilipkins,  Nicholas  Muse,  Rodham  Neale,  appraisers. 


(28.)  Will  of  Ann  Quiseuberry. 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I.  Ann  Quiseuberry,  of  the  parish  of  Wash¬ 
ington,  in  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  being  weak  of  body,  but  of  perfect 
senses  and  memory,  praised  be  Almighty  God  for  it.  do  make  and  ordain  this 
my  last  will  and  testament  in  manner  and  form  following: 

Imprimis:  I  commit  my  sole  into  the  hands  of  Almighty  God  which 
give  it  to  me,  and  my  body  to  the  earth  to  be  decently  buried  by  my  executors 
hereafter  named,  and  my  worldly  estate  I  give  in  manner  and  form  fol¬ 
lowing: 

Item:  I  give  unto  my  loving  sister  Elizabeth  Quiseuberry  all  my  estate 
both  within  (lores  and  without  dores,  to  her  forever. 

Lastly,  I  nominate  and  appoint  my  cousin  William  Dodd  and  my  sister 
Elizabeth  Quiseuberry,  and  Nicholas  Dodd  executors  of  this  my  last  will 
and  testament.  In  witness  whereof  1  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal 
this  23d  day  of  August,  anno  domney,  1773.  ANN  QUISENBERRY, 

Witnesses  Wm.  Dodd,  Alvin  Motliershead,  Thomas  Olliff. 

Admitted  to  probate  Aug.  29.  1779.  and  Wm.  Dodd  qualified  as  executor, 
with  James  Omohundro  as  his  security. 


(25).)  Nicholas  Quisenberry  to  Wm.  Quiseuberry,  bill  of  sale. 

Mem:  Bill  of  sale  dated  9th  of  November,  1782.  Nicholas  Quiseuberry,  of 
the  county  of  Stafford,  in  consideration  of  £50  current  money  of  Virginia, 
sells  to  his  brother,  William  Quisenberry,  of  Westmoreland  county,  one 
negro  man. 


184 


APPENDIX. 


(30.1  Owens  F.  O.,  Ya.,  Feb.  15,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  My  family  of  Quiseuberrys  all  came  from  England. 
My  father's  name  was  Nicholas,  and  he  was  born  in  Westmoreland  county, 
son  of  George  Quisenberry.  There  he  lived  until  he  grew  up;  then  lie 
bought  a  farm  on  Maehodoc  Creek  in  King  George  county.  He  lived  here 
until  he  died.  He  was  born  in  1812,  died  when  52  years  of  age,  leaving  me 
a  mere  child.  My  mother  was  Miss  Rose  Green  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.  My 
father  has  a  brother,  Austin,  living  in  La  Grange,  Mo.  *  *  *  You  will 
hear  from  me  as  soon  as  I  can  hear  from  my  cousin,  William  C.  Marmaduke, 
the  Sheriff  of  Westmoreland  county.  He  is  rather  a  slow  coach.  When  I 
get  a  reply  from  him  1  will  inclose  it  to  you.  He  can  furnish  all  the  infor¬ 
mation  you  want  about  the  Quisenberry  family.  *  *  * 

Yery  truly  yours.  NICHOLAS  A.  QUISENBERRY. 


(31.)  Potomac  Mills,  Westmoreland  Co.,  Ya.,  May  14,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  received  several  letters  from  you  in  regard  to  the 
Quisenberry  family.  *  *  *  I  am  sorry  I  can  not  inform  you  further  than 
my  great  grandfather,  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  who  lived  and  died  in  this 
county,  who  was  the  father  of  my  grandfather.  George  Quisenberry,  who 
also  died  in  this  county.  From  what  I  have  been  able  to  learn  of  the  name, 
there  are  several  branches  of  the  name,  and,  I  presume,  of  the  same  family, 
now  living  in  this  and  adjoining  counties.  Three  branches  of  the  name 
si  ill  live  in  this  county,  one  in  Caroline,  ami,  I  think,  one  in  Maryland.  *  *  * 
Yours  truly,  WM.  C.  MARMADUKE. 


Potomac  Mills,  Ya.,  May  31,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  1  know  nothing  of  the  facts  relative  to  the  occu¬ 

pancy  by  the  Quiseuberrys  (in  early  times)  of  any  lands  on  the  Potomac. 
I  live  at  the  head  of  Pope’s  Creek,  near  the  mouth  of  which  Gen.  Washing¬ 
ton  was  born,  and,  as  the  crow  flies,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the 
birthplace  spot.  I  know  of  but  two  cemeteries  in  this  county  belonging  to 
Colonial  times— the  first,  ‘Tope's  Creek,”  one  mile  from  my  place,  into 
which  a  large  number  of  persons,  many  of  them  distinguished,  were  in¬ 
terred;  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  not  a  single  stone  remains  to  indicate 
their  identity.  The  other  is  in  the  lower  part  of  the  county,  the  condition 
of  which  I  am  not  informed  of.  I  can  not  point  you  to  a  single  locale  owned 
or  occupied  by  any  of  the  original  Quisenberrys.  I  know  only  of  those 
beginning  with  my  great-grandfather,  Nicholas  Q.  Monroe’s  Creek  is  the 
dividing  line,  on  the  north  of  this  county,  from  King  George  county,  im¬ 
mediately  south  of  which  is  embraced  a  section  of  country  on  the  Potomac 
known  as  the  “Irish  Neck,”  extending  to  another  stream  known  as  Mattox 
Creek,  which  marks  its  boundary  on  the  south.  From  the  last  named  to 
Pope’s  Creek  is  contained  the  renowned  district  of  the  Washingtons,  and,  a 
few  miles  south  of  that,  the  Lees — Stratford — the  old  Colonial  manor  of  tli" 
Lee  family,  still  remaining  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation.  *  *  *  A 
portion  of  the  “Irish  Neck”  was  once  owned  and  occupied  by  President 
Monroe,  and  a  popular  summer  resort  known  as  “Colonial  Beach”  has  of 
late  years  been  established  there.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  WM.  C.  MARMADUKE. 


(32.  INFORMATION  FROM  OLD  RAPPAHANNOCK  COUNTY,  YA. 

Rapp.  County  j  An  account  of  what  goods  were  sold  at  an  outcry  of  part  of  the 
[estate  of  Wm.  Sargent,  dec’d,  according  to  his  last  Will  and  Testa- 
[  rnent,  and  Judgments  Confessed  before  us,  ye  subscribers.  As  fol- 
May  12,  1663  J  lows  (vizt.) 


APPENDIX. 


185 


John  Quizenborogh  confessed  judgment.  1  lb.  tobacco 

Mr.  Humphrey  Pope,  security.  /  To  red  yearling  heifer,  0150 

(And  some  fifty  other  vendees  and  securities.) 


III. 

INFORMATION  FROM  KING  GEORGE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA. 

(1.)  King  George  C.  II.,  Va.,  Jan.  25,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  asking  for  information  relative  to  the  Quisenberry 
family  in  King  George  county  is  received.  The  earliest  mention  of  the  name 
in  the  records  is  in  a  deed  from  Thomas  Quisenberry,  dated  in  1728,  in  which 
he  mentions  the  will  of  his  father,  Humphrey  Quisenberry,  which  will,  how¬ 
ever,  I  can  not  And,  the  book  in  which  it  is  recorded  having  been  carried 
(>lf  by  the  Federal  troops  during  the  war.  There  are  two  distinct  families 
of  your  name  in  King  George  now- the  descendants  of  Mr.  James  Quisen¬ 
berry,  address  Port  Conway,  King  George  Co.,  Va.,  and  Mr.  N.  A.  Quisen¬ 
berry,  address  Owens,  King  George  Co.,  Va.  *  *  * 

‘  Yours  truly,  \V.  A.  ROSE,  Deputy  Clerk. 


(2.)  Thomas  Quisenberry,  deed  to  John  Finch. 

This  indenture,  made  the  13th  day  of  September,  in  the  second  year 
of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  George  the  Second,  by  the  Grace  of  God 
of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &e., 
A.  I).  1722,  between  Thomas  Quisenberry,  in  the  parish  of  Sittenburn,  in 
the  County  of  King  George,  planter,  of  the  one  part,  and  John  Finch,  in  the 
parish  of  Washington,  in  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  planter,  of  the  other 
part,  Wituessetli:  that  the  said  Thomas  Quisenberry,  for  and  in  consideration 
of  12,000  pounds  of  Tobacco,  to  him  in  hand  paid,  or  secured  to  be  paid,  by 
the  said  John  Finch  at  or  before  the  sealing  and  delivery  of  these  presents, 
the  receipt  whereof  he  doth  hereby  acknowledge,  and  every  part  thereof, 
doth  release,  acquit  and  discharge  the  said  John  Finch,  his  heirs,  executors 
and  administrators  forever, — by  these  presents  hath  granted,  bargained, 
aliened,  sold,  remised,  released  and  confirmed  unto  the  said  John  Finch  tin 
his  actual  possession  now  being  by  virtue  of  a  bargain  and  sale  thereof  made 
for  one  whole  year  by  indenture  bearing  date  the  day  next  before  the  date 
of  these  presents,  and  by  force  of  the  statute  for  transferring  uses  into  pos¬ 
session)  and  to  his  lioiis  and  assigns  forever,  all  those  messuages,  tenements, 
plantations  and  tracts  of  land,  with  their  appurtenances  lying  and  being  in 
the  Parish  of  Sittenburn,  in  the  county  of  King  George  aforesaid,  containing 
one  hundred  acres  of  land,  be  the  same  more  or  less,  formerly  in  the  pos¬ 
session  or  seizin  of  one  Martin  Fisher,  being  part  of  300  acres  of  land 
formerly  purchased  by  the  said  Martin  Fisher's  father  of  one  William  Jen¬ 
nings;  and  also,  all  that  messuage,  tenement,  plantation  or  parcell  of  land, 
containing  by  estimation  Thirty  acres,  be  the  same  more  or  less,  situate, 
lying  and  being  in  the  parish  and  county  last  mentioned,  formerly  purchased 
by  said  Martin  Fisher’s  father  of  one  William  Payne— the  inheritance  of 
which  severall  plantations  and  tracts  of  land,  by  several  mesne  conveyances 
in  the  law.  coming  to  and  vesting  in  one  David  Dickey,  by  deeds  of  lease 
and  release,  bearing  date  the  thirtyetli  and  one  and  thirtyeth  days  of  De¬ 
cember  in  the  year  1711),  granted  and  conveyed  tin*  same  to  Humphrey 
Quisenberry,  deceased,  father  of  the  said  Thomas  Quisenberry,  in  which  said 
deeds  of  lease  and  release  the  right  and  title  of  the  said  David  Dickey  to 
the  said  severall  plantations  and  tracts  of  land  is  set  forth  and  derived- 
aml  the  said  Humphrey  Quisenberry  in  and  by  his  last  will  and  testament 
in  writing  did  give  and  devise  the  same  to  his  son,  the  said  Thomas  Quisen¬ 
berry,  party  to  these  presents;  and  all  houses,  outhouses,  edifices,  buildings, 


186 


APPENDIX 


j ards,  gardens,  orchards,  fences,  woods  and  underwoods,  trees,  ways,  water¬ 
ways,  water  courses,  profits,  commodities,  emoluments,  hereditaments  and 
emoluments  whatsoever  to  the  said  severall  plantations  and  parcells  of 
land  b>  longing,  or  in  anywise  appertaining,  and  the  reversion  and  reversions, 
remainder  ann  remainders,  rents,  issues  and  profits  of  all  and  singular  the 
premises  aforesaid;  and  also  all  t lie  estate,  right,  title,  use,  interest,  trust,  pos¬ 
session,  reversion,  benefit,  properly,  claim,  and  demand  whatsoever,  of  him 
the  said  Thomas  Quisenberry  of,  in  and  to  the  same,  and  all  deeds,  evidences, 
and  writings,  touching  or  in  anywise  concerning  the  same  premises,  or  any 
part  thereof,— To  have  and  to  hold  the  said  severall  plantations  and  tracts 
of  land,  all  and  singular  other  the  premises  hereinbefore  mentioned  and 
intended  to  be  hereby  granted  and  released  with  their  and  every  of  their 
appurtenances— unto  the  said  John  Finch,  li is  heirs  and  assigns  forever.  And 
the  said  Thomas  Quisenberry  for  himself,  his  heirs,  executors  and  adminis¬ 
trators,  doth  covenant,  promise,  grant  and  agree  to  and  with  the  said  John 
Finch,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  by  these  presents,  that  he,  the  said  Thomas 
Quisenberry  and  his  heirs,  all  and  singular  the  several  plantations  and 
tracts  of  land  and  other  premises  hereinbefore  granted  and  released  unto 
him  the  said  John  Finch,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  against  the  claims  of  all  and 
every  person  whatsoever,  shall  and  will  warrant  and  forever  defend  by 
these  presents. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  parties  to  these  presents  have  hereunto  inter¬ 
changeably  sett  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 

Signed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of  David  Wise,  Robt:  Tomkins, 
Eilil:  Barradell. 


IV. 

INFORMATION  FROM  RICHMOND  AND  ESSEX  COUNTIES,  VIRGINIA. 

(1.)  Warsaw,  Richmond  county,  Va.,  March  30,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  The  name  of  Quesenberry  does  not  appear  on  our  records  as 
early  as  1660.  All  the  records  so  early,  pertaining  to  this  country,  are  iu 
Essex  county,  Va.  In  the  year  1718  the  name  of  Humphrey  Quesenbury 
appears  in  a  deed  from  John  Jennings  to  him.  *  *  *  There  are  none  earlier 
than  this. 

Yours  respectfully,  H.  L.  WARNER,  D.  C. 


(2.)  Warsaw,  Va.,  April  6,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Humphrey  Quesenbury,  as  the  deed  shows,  was  from  West¬ 
moreland  county,  Va.  He  left  no  will  in  this  county.  Yours  truly, 

H.  L.  WARNER. 


(3.)  Tappahannock,  Essex  Co.,  Va.,  April  26,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  examined  the  records  of  this  office  carefully  from  the 
year  1656  (the  oldest  record  book  in  the  office)  to  the  present  time,  and  prior 
to  the  vear  1850  I  fail  to  find  the  name  of  Quisenberry  mentioned.  *  *  * 
Yours  respectfully,  H.  L.  SOUTHWORTH,  Clerk. 


V. 

INFORMATION  FROM  CAROLINE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA. 

Bowling  Green,  Caroline  Co.,  Va.,  April  27,  1888. 
Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  I  have  carefully  examined  our  remaining  records,  and 
give  you  the  result.  I  think  I  wrote  you  that  our  old  deed  books  were 


APPENDIX. 


187 


burned  in  Richmond,  in  1865,  by  Federal  troops.  I  timl  an  index  to  them 
from  1733,  in  which  are  the  following  entries: 

1746  to  1752— Quisenberry  to  Quarles,  page  253. 

1777  to  1780— Quisenberry  to  Hackett,  page  721. 

1827  to  1138 —  Six  deeds  to  and  from  Quisenberry,  pages  231  to  1523.  The 
last  were  to  and  from  William  S.  Quesenberry,  a  merchant  then  living  in 
Port  Royal,  the  father  of  Dr.  Wm.  D.  Quesenberry,  now  living  near  Milford, 
in  this  county. 

In  one  of  our  old  order  books,  (all  of  which  I  have  carefully  examined) 
I  find  that  Aaron  Quisenberry  in  November,  1762,  recovered  a  judgment 
against  Benjamin  Catlett  for  £22.  with  interest  and  costs,  and  107  lbs  of  to¬ 
bacco.  This  is  all  I  could  find,  and  am  pretty  sure  that  nothing  further  can 
be  learned  from  the  records  of  this  otlice.  *  *  *  I  am  a  sort  of  antiquary, 
ai  d  take  a  pleasure  in  such  searches.  I  am  in  my  86th  year,  and  have  had 
charge  of  the  office  here  since  June,  1827.  *  *  * 

Very  respectfully,  ROBERT  HUDGIN. 


VI. 

INFORMATION  FROM  8 POTTS YL VANIA  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA. 

Spottsylvania  C.  II.,  Va.,  Jan.  4,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  The  records  of  this  county  show  that  on  Nov.  6.  1756,  Joseph 
Collins  deeded  a  tract  of  laud  containing  325  acres  situated  in  St.  George  i  ar- 
ish,  to  Aaron  Quisenberry,  of  Caroline  county,  Va..  and  the  on  August  28, 
176!),  Aaron  Quisenberry,  and  Joyce,  his  wife,  conveyed  this  same  tract  by 
deed  to  one  John  Mitchell.  There  are  numerous  other  matters  of  record  con¬ 
cerning  the  Quisenberry  family  from  Nov.  6.  1756  (the  first)  to  this  time,  but 
no  others  about  this  Aaron  Q.  Yours  truly, 

J.  P.  H.  CHRISMOND,  Clerk. 


VII. 

INFORMATION  FROM  ORANGE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA. 

(1.)  Orange  Court  House,  Va.,  Jan.  25,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  again  searched  the  records  for  information  to  your 
inquiry  of  January  19th.  The  first  deed  found  was  made  to  Aaron  Quisen¬ 
berry,  of  St.  George’s  Parish,  of  Spottsylvania  county,  by  a  Mr.  Richard 
Thomas  and  wife,  on  Sept.  28,  1760,  conveying  614  acres  of  land  on 
the  north  side  of  the  north  fork  of  the  North  Anna  river,  in  this  (Orange) 
county.  This  land,  1  reckon,  was  bought  directly  after  Aaron  Quisenberry 
sold  his  Spottsylvania  land  to  John  Mitchell,  as  you  state.  No  other  deed  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  made  to  Aaron  Quisenberry  after  that  date,  nor  does  it 
appear  that  he  deeded  any  property  to  any  daughter.  Our  tiles  of  marriage 
bonds  date  back  no  further  than  1775,  and  no  records  appear  to  have  been 
kept  of  marriages,  only  files  of  bonds,  which  were  required  of  ministers  of 
the  gospel  performing  the  ceremony  of  marriage.  Preachers,  from  that  time 
to  about  1800,  returned  very  few  marriages.  I  find,  however,  that  George 
Quisenberry  gave  bond  on  May  22,  1783,  to  marry  a  Miss  Jane  Daniel,  but 
no  return  of  the  marriage  appears  on  file.  William  Cooper  gave  bond  also, 
with  James  Quisenberry,  as  his  surety,  on  Nov.  24.  1787,  to  marry  a  M'ss 
Mary  Quisenberry.  Rice  Pendleton  also  gave  bond,  with  George  Quis¬ 
enberry  as  security,  to  marry  a  Miss  Elizabeth  Quisenberry. 

*  *  * 


Yours  very  truly, 


P.  H.  FRY,  Clerk. 


188 


APPENDIX. 


(2.)  Orange  0.  II.,  Va.,  Dec.  5,  1887. 

A.  C.  Quisenberry,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir:  Tlie  records  of  this  county  go  back  no  earlier  than  1734,  and 
for  information  prior  to  that  date  you  can  apply  to  the  clerk  of  Spottsylvania 
county,  -which  is  an  adjoining  county  to  Orange,  and  from  which  this  county 
was  taken  oil'  about  that  time.  I  have,  however,  made  an  examination  of 
tin'  records  of  deeds  here,  and  find  one  from  Aaron  Quisenberry  and  Joyce, 
his  wife,  to  Aaron  Quisenberry,  jr..  his  son,  for  about  100  acres  of  land;  the 
deed  recites  that  the  parties  are  all  of  Orange  county,  Va.,  and  is  in  con¬ 
sideration  of  natural  love  and  affection.  The  next  deed  is  from  the  same 
parties  to  their  son.  Moses  Quisenberry,  for  the  same  quantity  of  land  and  for 
tlie  like  consideration,  ’t  he  third  is  from  the  same  parties  to  their  son,  Wil¬ 
liam  Quisenberry,  for  like  quantity  of  land  and  consideration  as  the  other 
two.  All  three  deeds  are  recorded  in  January,  1772.  The  next  deed  is  from 
Aaron  Quisenberry  to  his  son  John  Quisenberry,  for  114  acres  of  land  and 
like  consideration  as  the  other  three,  and  this  deed  is  recorded  in  March,  1777. 
Then  again,  by  deeds,  Aaron  Quisenberry  conveys  to  his  four  above-named 
sons,  and  also  to  another  son  named  George,  certain  slave  property,  which 
deeds  are  all  recorded  in  March,  1786,  and  on  the  margin  of  these  records— 
i.  e.,  the  last  live — I  find  endorsed:  “Ex’d  and  delv’d  to  James  Quisenberry, 
son  to  Moses,  April,  1789.”  Again,  I  find  in  July,  1786,  a  deed  recorded  from 
Aaron  Quisenberry  to  his  son  James  Quisenberry,  of  the  county  of  Fayette, 
Kentucky,  conveying  a  negro  boy  named  “Bob,”  about  24  years  old.  This 
James  Quisenberry  must  have  been  your  great-grandfather  referred  to. 
These  are  all  the  parties  of  your  name  that  can  be  found  on  the  record  of 
deeds  here  within  the  dates  you  specify,  or  near  about  them.  *  *  * 

Yours  respectfully,  P.  H.  FRY,  Clerk. 


(3.)  Orange  C.  H.,  Va.,  Feb.  4,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Aaron  Quisenberry,  sr.,  left  no  will,  but  died  intestate,  and  his 
sons  Aaron  and  Moses  qualified  as  administrators,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
settlement  of  their  administration  account,  on  record;  wherein,  after  stating 
the  receipts  and  disbursements,  the  balance  of  the  estate  is  given  to  his  five 
children,  lo-wit:  Winifred,  Miss,  William,  George,  and  Aaron,  each  receiving 
the  sum  of  £120,  10s  and  9d.,  making  the  whole  estate  divided  among  the 
heirs,  after  payment  of  debts,  expenses,  &c.,  amount  to  over  £630.  Aaron 
Quisenberry  must  have  died  about  the  commencement  of  the  year  1795,  a< 
the  first  item  of  the  administration  account  is  March  22d  of  that  year,  and 
the  account  is  completed  as  of  February  6,  1798,  when  the  funds  were  paid 
over  to  the  five  heirs,  as  before  stated,  and  the  estate  settled  up. 

Yours  respectfully,  P.  H.  FRY,  Clerk. 


APPENDIX. 


189 


Dr 
1795. 
Meh.  22. 


Settlement  of  the  Estate  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  sr. 

Aaron  Quisenberry,  seur,  dec’d,  estate  in  settlement  with  Aaron  and  Moses 
Quisenberry,  Admrs. 

I  Cr. 

£  g.  d.  1795.  £  s.  d. 

To  cash  paid  George  Quifcn-  M’ch  12.  To  amount  of  sales .  169  2  2 % 

berry . - .  4  13  6  |  1797.  _ 

“  cash  paid  Moses  Quiscn-  I  Jan.  28.  To  amount  of  do .  199  !•*>  •►,{4 

berry . - .  0  7  6  ! 

“  cash  pd.  Win.  Wright  for 

Vand* .  2  0  0  | 

"  John  Bickers  for  1  coffin...  0  15  0 
“  spirits  furnished  at  the 

sale .  1  93  1 

“  cash  pd.  lawyer  and  adver¬ 
tising  sale .  0  16  0 

cash  pd.  for  taxes .  1  3  8 

“  cash  pd.  for  boating  out 

corn  .  0  6  0 

“  cash  paid  the  estate .  0  7  0 

Dec.  28.  “  cash  pd.  clerk's  fees  for 

record .  1  10  5 

hailing  tobacco  to  Freder¬ 
icksburg . 


1796. 
May  23. 


1797. 
Nov.  0. 


1798. 

Feb. 


cash  pd.  Somerville  for 
Cunningham  <fc  Co.  ap¬ 
praisers  fee . 

Wm.  Burris  receipt  omit¬ 
ted  27  A  pi.,  1795 . 

cash  pd.  taxes  1796  &  1797- 

cash  pd.  Mrs.  Burrus . 

cash  pd.  for  support  of  Mrs. 

Quisenberry,  dec'd . 

cash  pd.  taxes  in  full  1791 
(omitted) . 


0  8  0 

2  9  8 
0  15  3 

o  9  8 

3  6  6% 

8  2  8 
1  3  8 


Aaron  &  Moses  Quisen¬ 
berry,  charges  allowed  for 
acting  as  administrators...  6  0  0 
Winifred  Quisenberry,  her 
legacy  pd.  as  per  receipt—  126  10  9 
Win.  Quisenberry,  per  re¬ 
ceipt .  126  10  9 

Gcorgo  Quisenberry,  per 

receipt.— .  126  10  9 

HI is*  Quisenberry,  per  re¬ 
ceipt .  126  10  9 

Aaron  Quisenberry,  per  re¬ 
ceipt .  126  10  9 


£668  17  0'., 


£668  17  6% 


*  “  Vand,”  i.  6.,  “  Vend,”  or  sale.  Win.  Wright  was  the  auctioneer.— [A.  C.  Q.J 

We,  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  County  Court  of  Orange,  have 
this  clay  settled  the  administration  of  Aaron  Quisenberry  and  Moses  Quisen¬ 
berry,  on  the  estate  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  deceased,  and  find  the  legacies 
all  paid  off  and  the  accounts  balanced.  Given  under  hands  this  6tli  day  of 
February,  17!)S. 

JOHN  BROCK,  JR.,  JAMES  NELSON,  ADAM  LINDSAY. 


(4.)  St.  Just,  Orange  Co.,  Va.,  Jan.  18,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  8th  instant  was  duly  received.  1  am  sorry 
to  say  iu  reply  that  I  am  not  able  to  give  you  any  information  that  would  be 
of  any  service  to  you.  I  have  seen  my  brother  Benjamin,  my  oldest  sister, 
and  several  other  old  persons,  but  none  of  them  know  anything  of  your 
great-great-grandfather,  Aaron  Quisenberry— who  was  my  great-grandfather. 
George  Quisenberry,  who  was  your  great-grandfather's  brother,  was  my 
grandfather.  He  had  22  children.  I  have  ids  register  giving  t lie  names  of 
all  but  two,  who  died  before  they  had  names.  My  father’s  name  was  Vivian 


190 


APPENDIX. 


Quisenberry.  Grandfather  George  Quisenberry  married  Jane  Daniel.  I  have 
never  heard  of  grandfather  George  living  anywhere  else  but  in  Orange 
county,  Va.,  where  he  died  about  1836  at  his  farm  “Cherry  Grove,”  iu  sight, 
of  where  1  now  live,  llis  brother,  Aaron,  jr.,  also  died  in  this  county.  We 
all  believe  that  our  great-grandfather  was  from  England,  but  we  have  no 
proof,  li  e  do  not  know  anything  of  the  old  family  record,  or  where  great¬ 
grandfather  Aaron  Quisenberry  was  buried.  *  *  * 

Very  respectfully  yours,  DANIEL  QUISENBERRY. 


(5.)  The  Will  of  Thomas  Burrus  (or  Burris),  father  of  Jane,  the  wife  of 
Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  of  Kentucky. 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I,  Thomas  Burrus,  of  the  County  of  Orange 
and  Parish  of  St.  Thomas,  (Va.),  being  at  present  time  sound  in  mind  and 
memory,  I  thank  God  for  the  same,  do  hereby  certify  this  to  be  my  last  wJl 
and  testament,  in  manner  and  form  as  follows:  First,  after  I  quit  this  mortal 
life  I  desire  my  body  to  be  decently  buried  with  every  solemnity  at  the  dis 
cretion  of  my  Executor;  aud  after  paying  my  just  debts,  what  then  remaius 
my  will  and  desire  is  may  be  disposed  of  in  the  following  manner,  viz: 

1  lend  to  my  beloved  wife,  Frances  Burrus,  my  whole  estate,  real  and 
personal,  during  her  natural  life  or  widowhood,  and  after  her  death  to  be 
divided  amongst  my  children,  hereafter  named. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son  Thomas  Burrus  five  hundred  acres  of 
Land  at  Kentucky  (first  choice)  to  him  and  his  heirs,  &e. 

Also,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son  Will/iam  Tandy  Burrus  five  hundred 
acres  of  Land  at  Kentucky  (second  choice)  to  him  and  his  heirs,  &c.,  as  also 
one  feather  bed  and  furniture,  &c. 

Also,  1  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son  Roger  Burrus  five  hundred  acres 
of  land  at  Kentucky  (third  choice)  to  him  and  his  heirs,  &c.,  aud  one 
feather  bed  and  furniture,  &c. 

Also,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  grandson,  Thomas  Burrus,  son  of  Thomas 
Burrus,  one  negro  boy  Absalom,  to  him  and  his  heirs,  &c. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter.  Mounting  Burrus,  one  negro  woman 
named  Nan,  and  all  her  increase,  but  if  this  said  negro  should  die  before  my 
daughter  shall  be  of  age  or  marry,  then  there  shall  be  another  likely  girl 
not  under  the  age  of  ten  years  old  to  be  replaced  to  her  aud  her  heirs,  &c.. 
and  also  one  beast  by  the  name  of  Jack,  aud  saddle,  and  feather  bed  and 
furniture. 

Also,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Fanny  Embry,  one  negro  girl 
named  Sukey,  and  all  her  increase,  to  her  and  her  heirs,  it  being  her  part  of 
the  slaves  I  intend  for  her;  also  one  feather  bed  and  furniture;  which  said 
negro  and  bed  is  already  delivered  to  her. 

Also,  I  give  aud  bequeath  to  my  daughter,  Mildred  Embry,  one  negro 
boy  named  Ben,  to  her  and  her  heirs,  &e.,  already  delivered;  also  ten  pounds 
cash,  already  delivered. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Elizabeth  Brockman  one  negro  boy 
named  Duke,  also  one  feather  bed  and  furniture,  which  said  negro  aud  bed 
is  already  delivered;  also  twenty  pounds  cash,  to  be  raised  out  of  my  estate, 
to  her  and  her  heirs,  &e. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Sarah  Tribble  one  negro  girl  named 
Agness,  and  all  her  increase,  to  her  and  her  heirs,  already  delivered;  also 
one  feather  bed  aud  furniture,  already  delivered. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Jane  Quisenberry  one  negro  girl 
named  Dinah,  and  all  her  increase  to  her  and  her  heirs:  also  one  feather  bed 
and  furnituiv;  also  twenty  pounds  cash;  which  portion  above  mentioned  is  al¬ 
ready  delivered. 

I  give  to  my  grand  daughter  Frances  Quisenberry,  the  daughter  of  Jane 
Quisenberry,  one  negro  girl  named  Violet,  to  her  and  her  heirs  forever. 

I  give  to  my  daughter  Frances  Tandy  Bush  one  negro  girl  named  Alice, 
and  all  her  increase;  also  one  feather  bed  and  furniture,  to  her  aud  her  heirs, 
which  is  already  delivered  to  her. 


APPENDIX. 


191 


Also,  I  desire  after  iny  wife  Frances  Burrus’s  death  or  widowhood,  that 
the  negro  boy  Gilbert,  now  in  possession  of  my  sou  Thomas  Burrus,  may 
be  returned  to  the  ballance  of  my  estate,  and  that  there  may  be  nine  of  the 
choice  of  my  slaves  then  remaining,  to  be  equally  divided  between  my  three 
sons  Thomas  Burrus,  William  Tandy  Burrus,  and  Roger  Burrus,  to  them 
and  their  heirs,  Ac.,  and  if  either  of  my  sons  should  die  under  age  or  before 
they  possess  their  part  of  my  estate,  that  their  portion  shall  be  equally  di¬ 
vided  between  my  sons  then  remaining. 

1  also  desire  that  the  balance  of  my  land  at  Kentucky,  which  is  live 
hundred  acres,  be  equally  divided  between  my  five  daughters  Fannie  Embry, 
Mildred  Embry,  Sallie  Tribble,  Jane  Quisenberry  and  Frances  Tandy  Bush, 
to  them  and  their  heirs  forever. 

I  give  unto  my  daughter  Mourning  Burrus  the  Land  whereon  I  now  live, 
at  the  death  of  my  wife  Frances  Burrus,  to  her  and  her  heirs  forever. 

Also  my  will  and  desire  after  the  death  or  widowhood  of  my  wife  Frances 
Burrus,  that  the  ballance  of  my  negroes  then  remaining,  with  stock  and 
household  furniture  of  all  kinds,  may  be  equally  divided  amongst  my  sons 
and  daughters  above  named,  except  one  equal  child's  part  of  the  last  bal¬ 
lance  of  negroes  and  household  furniture  and  stock  to  be  equally  divided 
amongst  my  two  grand-daughters  and  grand  son,  Elijah  Perry,  Dicey  Perry, 
and  Mary  Perry,  to  them  and  their  heirs,  &c. 

And  I  do  hereby  nominate  and  appoint  my  wife,  Frances  Burrus,  Execu¬ 
trix,  and  Henry  Tandy  and  Thomas  Burrus,  Executors,  of  this  my  last  will 
and  testament.  As  witness  whereof  1  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal 
this  2d  day  of  October,  1788.  THOMAS  BURRUS. 

Witnesses:  Caleb  Lindsay,  Thos.  Bell,  .Tames  Daniel. 

Probated  and  admitted  to  record  on  Monday,  March  23,  178!),  the  execu¬ 
trix  and  executors  named  herein  qualifying  as  such,  with  Joseph  Duncan 
and  William  Tandy  Burrus  as  their  securities. 


((i.)  )y  Frankfort,  Ivy.,  Jan.  31,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  On  yesterday  I  entered  on  my  84tli  year,  so  you  will  see  how 
far  back  my  recollection  of  things  and  of  persons  should  reasonably  extend. 
*  *  *  In  your  last  letter  you  wanted  to  know  something  of  the  Tandy  and 
Burris  families.  There  are  perhaps  no  two  families  in  the  State  of  Vir¬ 
ginia  whose  genealogy  I  know  more  of.  Both  families  were  neighbors  and 
intimate  friends  of  my  father;  and  the  younger  ones  (and  there  were  a  host 
of  them)  were  my  schoolmates.  I  knew  all  the  elder  ones,  whom  I  shall 
name.  Of  the  Tandy  family  there  were  Billy  (as  he  was  called),  Harry, 
Roger,  and  a  sister  of  these  married  a  man  named  Perry.  Billy,  about  the 
time  of  my  birth,  married  Betsey  Dickinson,  an  aunt  of  the  editor  of  the 
Religious  Herald,  and  about  the  year  1812  he  moved  to  Kentucky.  Harry 
and  Roger  Tandy  both  married  Misses  Adams,  and  in  the  fall  of  1818  they 
moved  to  Kentucky  and  settled  in  the  county  of  Todd,  where  some  of  their 
descendants  still  live. 

Were  1  to  live  to  the  age  of  a  thousand  years  I  should  not  forget  Tandy 
Burris,  who  was  the  sou  of  a  sister  of  the  Tamlys  whom  I  have  named. 
He  and  my  father  were  intimate  friends,  and  each  kept,  a  pack  of  hounds, 
and  were  together  in  many  very  exciting  fox-chases.  When  a  boy  I  was 
often  with  them.  Captain  Burrus  left  a  large  family,  one  of  whom,  a  daugh¬ 
ter  named  Emily,  married  Hezekiah  Quisenberry,  a  son  of  Aaron  Quisen¬ 
berry  (the  second).  Your  great-grandmother,  Jane  Burris,  was  the  sister  of 
Tandy  Burris,  and  his  first  daughter  was  named  after  her— Jane  Burris. 
This  Jane  Burris  married  a  man  named  Frazier,  of  Orange  County.  *  *  * 
Yours  most  respectfully,  J.  RUSSELL  HAWKINS. 


192 


APPENDIX. 


(7.)  Record  and  Pension  Office,  War  Department, 

Washington,  Aug.  24,  1893. 

Mr.  John  M.  Ragland,  Osceola,  Mo.: 

It  appears  from  the  records  of  this  office  that  Thomas  Burrace,  whose 
name  appears  on  some  records  as  Burris,  enlisted  February  23,  177(5,  as  a 
private  in  Captain  William  Washington’s  company,  Rd  Virginia  regiment  of 
Foot,  Revolutionary  War,  and  his  name  appears  on  the  muster  rolls  of  that 
organization  to  July.  1777.  He  is  reported  with  the  rank  of  Corporal  on  mus¬ 
ter  rolls  as  follows:  Capt.  John  Francis  Mercer’s  company  of  this  regiment 
to  and  including  May,  1778;  Capt.  Robert  Powell’s  company,  3d  and  7th 
Va.  (consolidated)  regiment  from  May  to  September,  1778;  Capt.  Robert 
Powell’s  company,  3d  Virginia  regiment,  for  October,  1778;  Capt.  John  F. 
Mercer's  company,  3d  Virginia  regiment,  to  April,  1779,  and  Capt.  Valentine 
Peyton's  company,  3d  Virginia  regiment,  to  November,  1779.  No  further 
record  of  him  has  been  found. 

No  record  has  been  found  showing  the  residence  or  age  of  Private  James 
Ragland,  of  Capt.  Woodson’s  company,  9tli  Virginia  regiment,  nor  has  any 
record  been  found  showing  in  what  part  of  Virginia  the  company  was 
enlisted. 

By  authority  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  F.  C.  AINSWORTH, 

Colonel,  U.  S.  Army. 


VIII. 


GENERAL  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  INFORMATION. 

(1.)  Epitaph  on  the  Tomb  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  Clark  County,  Ky. 

In  memory  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia, 
of  English  parentage,  June  13,  1759.  In  the  18th  year  of  his  age  he  inter¬ 
married  with  Jane  Burrus,  of  the  same  county,  by  whom  he  had  seven  sons 
and  six  daughters;  and  on  the  24th  of  December,  1811,  he  was  married  to 
Chine  Shipp,  of  Clark  county,  Ivy.,  by  whom  he  had  eleven  children.  In  the 
early  part  of  his  life  he  professed  religion.  In  1783  he  moved  to  Kentucky, 
and  not  long  after  commenced  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  Redeemer,  which 
he  continued  zealously  to  do  till  his  departure  on  the  5th  day  of  August,  1830, 
whose  soul,  made  meet  for  glory,  was  taken  to  Immanuel’s  bosom,  being 
71  years,  1  month  and  22  days  old. 

Like  all  good  men,  by  some  despised; 

Like  them,  by  many  others  loved  and  prized; 

But  theirs  shall  be  the  everlasting  crown— 

Not  whom  the  World,  but  Jesus  Christ,  will  own. 


From  the  Tomb  of  Ilis  Wife: 

In  memory  of  Jane  Quisenberry,  consort  of  Rev.  .Tames  Quisenberry,  to 
whom  she  was  married  December  4,  177ti,  and  by  whom  she  had  thirteen 
children.  She  was  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  July  5th,  1739:  pro¬ 
fessed  the  Christian  religion  when  cpiite  young,  and  departed  this  life  Novem¬ 
ber  3d,  1811,  being  52  years,  3  months  and  27  days  old. 

When  Faith  and  Love  (which  parted  from  her  never), 

Had  ripened  thy  just  soul  to  dwell  with  God, 

Meekly  thou  didst  resign  this  earthly  load 
•  Of  Death,  called  Life,  which  us  from  Life  doth  sever. 

Thy  works  *  *  *  (Balance;  illegible.) 


APPENDIX. 


193 


(2.) 

From  the  Fly-Leaves  of  Rev.  James  Quisenberry’s  old  Bible  (printed  by 
Mark  and  Cbas.  Kerr,  Edinburgh,  1795): 

Titles  of  My  Books: 

Clia  liner's  Discourses,  2  volumes. 

Memoirs  of  Whitfield. 

Letters  on  Uuitariauism. 

Ward's  Letters. 

Self  Knowledge. 

Bries"  Memoirs. 

Practical  Piety. 

Almost  a  Christian. 

Record  of  My  Slaves: 

Negro  Bob  was  born  1703. 

Negro  Dinah  was  born  June  20,  1771. 

Negro  Cato  was  born  1773. 

Negro  Dicey  was  born  September  4,  1780. 

Negro  Clianey  was  born  November  27,  1791. 

Negro  C'uflfee  was  born  March  15,  1792. 

Negro  Walker  was  born  October  7.  1795. 

Negro  Jeremiah  was  born  August  25.  1807. 

Negro  Sally  was  born  January  0,  1790. 

Negro  Duke  was  born  February  3.  1800. 

Negro  David  was  born  April  10,  1803. 

Negro  Daniel  was  born  March  8,  1805. 

Negro  Violet  was  born  November  22,  1805. 

Negro  Milly  was  born  February  11,  1807. 

Negro  Patsy  was  born  March  10,  1808. 

Negro  Bob  was  born  February  3,  1809. 

Negro  Joyce  was  born  May  23,  1810. 

Negro  Ben  was  born  June  10,  1810. 

Negro  Betty  was  born  November  2.  1810. 

Negro  Mariudo  was  born  November  24,  1811. 

Negro  Jacob  was  born  May  20,  1812. 

Negro  Caesar  was  born  September  24,  1813. 

Negro  Andy  was  born  April  4.  1814. 

Negro  Willis  was  born  May  7.  1814. 

Negro  Sam  was  born  July  31,  1815. 

Negro  Louisa  was  boru  August  20,  1810. 

Negro  Major  was  born  October  1,  1810. 

Negro  Lucinda  was  born  February  4.  1819. 

Negro  Gilbert  was  boru  May  14,  1821. 

Negro  Mary  was  boru -  1823. 

Negro  John  Green  was  boru  Dec.  11.  1828. 


Taylor’s  History  of  Ten  Churches. 
Debate  on  Baptism. 

Septick’s  Manual. 

Revival  of  Religion  in  New  England. 
Dialogue  of  Devils. 

Solitude  Sweetened. 

Whitfield's  Sermons. 


(3.)  Winchester,  Clark  Co..  Ky.,  June  8.  1S88. 

My  Dear  Q.:  The  following  is  a  memorandum  of  lands  bought  and  sold 
by  persons  named  Quiseuberry,  as  appears  of  record  in  this  office,  between 
the  years  1793  and  1810,  viz: 

John  Quiseuberry  and  Rachel,  his  wife,  to  Benjamin  Drake,  100  acres,  £100. 

Same  to  Charles  Stewart,  8214 acres,  £82  10s. 

Same  to  Curtis  Pendleton.  80  acres,  £50. 

James  Quiseuberry  and  Jane,  his  wife,  to  Conrad  Lane,  39  acres,  £50. 

Same  to  Aaron  Haydon,  50  acres,  £50. 

John  Reed  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  to  James  Quiseuberry,  55  acres,  £110. 
James  Stevens  and  Lucy,  his  wife,  to  Nicholas  Quiseuberry  and  Lucy,  his 
wife,  54  acres,  £8. 

James  Stevens  and  Lucy,  his  wife,  to  James  Quiseuberry,  7%  acres,  £15. 


194 


APPENDIX. 


William  Bush  and  Frances,  his  wife,  to  James  Quisenberry,  82  acres,  £50. 

liice  Fendleton  and  wife  to  Aaron  Quisenberry,  53V->  acres,  £58,  18s. 

James  Quisenberry  to  Joel  Quisenberry,  92%  acres,  deed  of  gift. 

James  French  to  John  Quisenberry,  all  his  interest  in  100  acres  of  land  which 
was  sold  and  conveyed  by  Andrew  Tribble  to  the  said  John  Quisen¬ 
berry  in  the  year  1789.  This  is  a  quit-claim  deed. 

John  Quisenberry  and  llachol,  his  wife,  to  Zachariali  Elkin,  100  acres,  $1,000. 

Nicholas  Quisenberry  and  Lucy,  his  wife,  to  Nathaniel  Ragland,  54  acres,  $540. 

Henry  Hieronymus  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  to  Harvey  Quisenberry,  105 
acres,  $1,000. 

Win.  Eubank  to  Joel  Quisenberry,  55  acres,  $500. 

Aaron  Quisenberry  and  Betsey,  his  wife,  to  Thomas  Berry,  53  acres,  $500. 

Jas.  Harvey  Quisenberry  and  Lucy,  his  wife,  to  James >  Quisenberry,  105 
acres,  $1,000. 

Yours  truly,  FRED  BROADIIURST,  Co.  Clerk. 


(4.) 

Note.— In  April.  1888,  then  a  resident  of  Lexington,  K.v.,  I  personally 
examined  the  records  of  Fayette  county,  and  found  (in  the  “burnt  records”) 
that  in  1788  my  great-grandfather,  James  Quisenberry,  bought  from  Andrew 
Tribble  200  acres  of  land  in  that  part  of  Fayette  which  is  now  Clark  county. 
The  “burnt  records”  are  copies  of  papers  more  or  less  destroyed  by  lire 
when  the  Fayette  County  Clerk’s  office  was  burnt  in  1800.  Many  papers 
and  records  were  then  totally  destroyed,  and  among  them  the  record  of 
James  Quisenberry’s  first  purchase  of  land  in  Kentucky,  in  1785.— A.  C.  Q. 


(5.)  Frankfort,  Ky.,  Dec.  12,  1887. 

My  Dear  Q.:  1  have  searched  the  deed  books,  &c.,  on  file  in  the  office  of 
the  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  I  can  find  only  two  deeds  made  to 
Quisenberrys— December  22,  1788,  Aaron  Bledsoe,  of  Orange  county,  Va., 
made  a  deed  to  John  Quisenberry  for  and  in  consideration  of  £150,  of  a  tract 
of  350  acres  of  land  lying  on  Howard’s  Creek  in  (then)  Fayette  county.  In 
1808  Anderson  Long  and  wife  deeded  to  John  Quisenberry  a  tract  of  land  in 
Warren  county,  Ky.,  for  $1,015.  1  can  find  no  deed  to  James  Quisenberry 
at  all.  JOHN  H.  STUART. 


(6.)  Bristow,  Warren  Co.,  Ky.,  Feb.  3,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  received  a  letter  at  this  place  a  few  days  ago  directed  to  my 
brother,  John  Quisenberry,  who  has  gone  West.  Yrou  wanted  to  know  our 
ancestors  and  where  they  came  from.  My  father’s  name  was  Maury  W. 
Quisenberry;  his  father  was  Nicholas  Quisenberry,  and  his  father  was 
John  Quisenberry.  Nearly  all  of  the  Quisenberrys  who  lived  here  have 
gone  West,  except  myself  and  family  of  five.  I  have  in  my  possession  some 
of  my  grandfather’s  papers,  which  show  that  they  came  from  Virginia.  My 
grandfather  (Nicholas  Q.)  married  a  Stevens.  *  *  *  I  also  have  another 
paper  showing  that  he  lived  in  Clark  Co.,  Ky.  In  1808  my  grandfather  made 
a  deed  to  Nathaniel  Ragland,  of  Clark  county,  Ky.,  and  the  land  deeded  had 
formerly  belonged  to  James  Quisenberry.  I  have  heard  my  grandfather 
speak  of  Joel  and  Aaron  Quisenberry  often.  I  never  knew  where  our  first 
ancestors  came  from,  further  than  Virginia. 

Yours  truly,  WILLIAM  QUISENBERRY. 


(7.)  Land  Office,  Frankfort,  Ivy.,  April  23,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  submit  you  herewith  a  list  of  all  patents  of  record  in  this 
office  in  any  name  approaching  those  in  your  letter: 


APPENDIX. 


195 


Nicholas  Quisenberry,  10  acres,  Warren  county,  Book  16,  page  436. 
Zacckeus  Quesenberry,  100  acres,  Barren  county,  Bok  E,  page  520. 
Zaceheus  Quesenberry,  25  acres,  Barren  county,  Book  E,  page  521. 

Page  Quesenberry,  50  acres,  Barren  county,  Book  W,  page  372. 

Moses  Quisenberiy,  131  acres,  Breckinridge  county,  Book  L  2,  page  110. 
Moses  Quisenberry,  137  acres,  Green  county,  Book  O  2,  page  370. 

Very  respectfully,  HAL.  S.  CORBETT,  Dep.  Reg.  L.  O. 


(8.)  Hiseville,  Ky.,  Jan.  23,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  just  in  receipt  of  yours  of  the  10th.  I  have  written  to  my 

uncle,  Solomon  Quesenberry,  who  is  80  years  old,  to  get  up  the  best  history 

of  our  family  he  can.  *  *  *  My  father  is  dead.  Some  of  our  family  are 
in  Richmond,  Mo.  *  *  *  My  grandfather,  Page  Quesenberry,  was  born  in 
Virginia.  His  brother,  Zachariah  Quesenberry,  was  a  Methodist  preacher. 
My  grandfather  moved  from  Virginia  to  Boyle  county,  Ky.,  and  lived  at 
Perry ville;  and  moved  from  Perryville  to  Barren  county  in  1803. 

Truly  yours,  I.  M.  QUESENBERRY. 

Parksville,  Boyle  Co.,  Ky.,  Oct.  1,  1888. 
Dear  Sir:  Since  writing  to  you  last  1  have  bought  a  place  up  here.  *  *  * 
Page  Quesenberry  was  born  in  Fauquier  or  Culpeper  county,  Virginia,  in 
1780,  and  his  father’s  name  was  James,  born  in  1690,  as  my  Uncle  Solomon 
Quesenberry  (now  81  years  old)  thinks.  (Note. — A  palpable  error;  lie  was 
probable  born  about  1730,  or  later.— A.  C.  Q.)  My  grandfather,  Page  Quesen¬ 
berry,  moved  from  Virginia  in  company  with  his  brother  Zachariah,  and  they 
stopped  at  Perryville,  Ivy.,  and  lived  there  one  year,  and  then  moved  to 
Barren  county,  5  miles  east  of  Glasgow.  Zachariah  Quesenberry  was  a 
Methodist  preacher,  and  left  Barren  county  in  1840,  moving  to  Richmond, 
Missouri.  He  was  a  preacher  of  considerable  note,  and  had  charge  of  the 
church  in  Richmond  from  1840,  preaching  every  week,  up  to  two  weeks 
before  his  death,  which  occurred  September  23,  1804,  at  the  age  of  95  years. 
He  was  born  in  1769.  *  *  *  He  left  a  widowed  daughter,  Mrs.  Bryant, 
in  Richmond,  and  a  son,  John  I\  Quesenberry,  who  is  a  merchant  there,  and 
lias  been  for  48  years,  and  has  never  married.  *  *  * 

Janies  Quesenberry  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1090.  His  two  sons  were 
born  there— Zachariah  in  1709  and  Page  in  1780.  Page  had  three  sons, 
Joseph,  Abel  and  Solomon.  Joseph  died  young.  Abel  was  born  in  1815  and 
died  in  1883.  leaving  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Hanks,  of  Hart  county,  Ky.,  and 
three  sons — Y.  M.  Quesenberry,  of  Gordon  City,  Kansas;  ,T.  W.  Quesenberry, 
of  Hiseville,  Ky.,  and  myself.  Solomon  Quesenberry  was  born  in  1806,  and 
now  lives  near  Glasgow,  Ky.,  and  has  one  son,  J.  IV.  Quesenberry,  and  four 
daughters  living— one  single,  Lucinda;  and  three  married,  Mrs.  Kitmaird,  of 
Adair  county;  Mrs.  Breeding,  of  El  Paso,  Texas,  and  Mrs.  Wood,  of  Hiseville, 
Ky.  Zachariah  had  a  daughter  and  two  sons,  Joseph  and  John.  Joseph 
died  young,  in  Richmond,  Mo.,  and  John  is  a  very  prominent  merchant  there. 
The  daughter,  Mrs.  Bryant,  lives  with  her  brother  John.  *  *  * 

Respectfully,  I.  M.  QUESENBERRY. 


(9.)  Courier-Journal  Office,  Louisville,  Ky.,  Jan.  4,  1888. 

My  Dear  Cousin:  You  are  my  “sure  enough”  cousin,  as  I  always  believed 
you  to  be  from  your  Quisenberry  features.  *  *  *  In  regard  to  my  mother’s 
family  I  know  this:  Her  name  was  Evaline  Quisenberry,  only  daughter  of 
Aaron  Shelton  Quisenberry  and  Henrietta  Reynolds,  his  wife.  She  was  born 
in  Orange  county  Va„  Nov.  8.  1808.  My  grandfather  was  born  either  in 
Spottsylvania  or  Orange,  I  can  not  say  which,  as  the  family  record  is  not 
available.  He  had  three  children,  my  mother,  and  two  sons — Robert  and 
William,  both  older  than  she.  All  are  dead.  My  grandfather  was  a  very  tall 
man,  undeviatingly  honest,  stern,  proud,  and  not  easily  turned  from  his  pur- 


196 


APPENDIX. 


1  os  s.  1  remember  him  very  well,  particularly  so  as  I  have  been  credited  w  th 
some,  if  not  all,  of  his  marked  characteristics.  1  know  that.  1  am  stubborn, 
at  least,  and  believe  that  I  am  honest,  llis  sons  left  small  families,  and  a 
grandson.  Dr.  .lames  Quisenberrv,  is  a  rising  young  physician  at  Utica,  In¬ 
diana.  *  *  *  1  am  unable  to  say  when  my  grandfather  came  to  Kentucky, 
but  it  w  as  after  the  birth  of  my  mother.  Your  affectionate  cousin, 

E.  TOLK  JOHNSON,  Managing  Editor. 


(10.1  Belmont,  Va.,  Feb.  17,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  Hezekiali  Quisenberrv,  who  married  Miss  Sally  Bur¬ 

ris,  urns  the  son  of  Aaron,  who  lived  near  North  r.amunkey  Church,  in 
Orange  county.  Aaron  Quisenberrv  married  Miss  Ellis,  a  sister  of  Hezekiali 
Ellis,  who,  besides  her  son  Hezekiah,  raised  live  daughters,  all  of  whom  left 
children.  The  name  of  one  (Mrs.  Reynolds)  was  Joyce.  I  never  saw'  Mr. 
Aaron  Quisenberry.  His  brother,  Air.  'William  Quisenberry,  was  the  father 
of  Elijah,  James,  Charles  and  William  Quisenberry,  all  dead,  and  their  fami¬ 
lies  ail  left  the  State,  except  Elijah’s  and  Mrs.  Ralph  Dickinson’s.  She  is 
the  mother  of  A.  E.  Dickinson,  editor  of  the  Religious  Herald,  at  Richmond, 
Va.  William  Quisenberry,  the  son  of  Elijah,  married  Miss  Hyter,  grand¬ 
daughter  of  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Hyter,  and  tw’o  of  his  sons  are  Baptist  preachers, 
and  stand  well  as  such.  One  was  ordained  at  Mt.  Hermou  last  year,  and  is 
pastor  of  a  church  below'  Richmond,  and  t He  other  is  now  at  the  Baptist  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  at  Louisville,  Ky.  Elijah  Quisenberry’s  grandson,  Dr. 
James  E.  Gardner,  is  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy.  I  knew  Mr. 
George  Quisenberry,  who  lived  near  Antioch  Church,  in  Orange  county.  He 
had  a  large  family,  but  they  are  all  dead,  or  have  left  this  State  except  one. 
His  name  is  James,  and  he  lives  at  Dabney’s  Old  Mill,  in  Louisa  county, 
just  below'  Waller’s  Tavern,  in  Spottsylvania.  R.  L.  COLEMAN. 


Louisville,  Ky.,  July  20,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  asking  information  of  the  Quisenberry  family  was 
received  a  few  days  ago,  My  husband’s  father  was  named  Aaron,  and  I 
think  that  his  grandfather’s  name,  was  either  Aaron  or  Shelton.  My  hus¬ 
band  never  saw  his  grandfather,  he  having  been  born  and  always  lived  in 
Charleston,  Va.  My  husband’s  mother  and  father  urere  born  in  Virginia,  and 
had  one  child  before  they  came  to  Kentucky.  They  never  had  but  three  chil¬ 
dren — my  husband,  wdiose  name  w'as  William,  one  brother,  named  Robert, 
and  a  sister  named  Evaline.  *  *  * 

Yours  respectfully,  MRS.  FRANCES  E.  QUISENBERRY. 


Will  of  Aaron  Quisenben-y,  junr. 

Tn  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I,  Aaron  Quisenberry,  of  the  county  of 
Orange,  calling  to  mind  the  uncertainty  of  this  life,  do  make,  ordain  and  set¬ 
tle  iliis  my  last  will  and  testament,  hereby  revoking  and  disannulling  all 
other  w'ills  by  me  heretofore  made,  in  manner  and  form  following,  that  is  to 
say — I  resign  my  soul  to  God  w’ho  gave  it  me  trusting  in  and  thro’  the  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  meet  a  joyful  resurrection;  and  as  to  my  worldly  goods 
the  Lord  has  blessed  me  with,  after  my  body  is  decently  buried  and  all  my 
debts  paid.  I  give  as  follow's: 

Imprimis.  I  g  ve  unto  my  son,  Stephen  Quisenberry,  one  shilling  sterling. 

Item.  I  give  unto  my  daughter,  Polly  Bell,  the  bed  and  household  furni¬ 
ture  and  stock  that  I  have  give  into  her  possession,  and  one  negro  girl  about 
14  years  old,  by  name  Esther,  and  her  increase,  and  forty  dollars  cash. 

Item.  I  give  unto  my  son,  Thomas  Quisenberry,  one  shilling  sterling. 

Item;  I  give  unto  my  son,  Aaron  Shelton  Quisenberry,  one  negro  boy  by 
name  Daniel,  is  about  ten  years  old,  and  one  negro  girl  named  Milley,  about 
two  years  old,  and  one  feather  bed  and  furniture. 


APPENDIX. 


197 


Item.  I  give  unto  my  son,  David  Quisenberry,  one  negro  girl  named  Daf- 
feny,  is  about  nine  years  old,  and  the  horse  I  have  let  him  have  in  posses¬ 
sion,  and  one  feather  lied  and  furniture,  and  if  can  be  found,  one  negro  man 
by  name  Anthony,  and  the  horse  which  he  made  his  elope  with,  the  ninth  day 
of  August,  at  night,  in  the  year  1800. 

Item.  I  give  unto  my  daughter,  Winnifret  Morris,  one  negro  girl  named 
Rose,  about  sixteen  years  old,  and  her  increase,  and  the  bed  and  furniture  and 
mare  that  I  have  lent  her,  and  one  hundred  dollars. 

Item.  I  give  unto  my  sou,  Aaron  S.  Quisenberry,  the  tract  of  land  1 
bought  of  Andrew  Shepherd,  lying  in  Orange  county,  containing  318  acres, 
adjoining  to  Dolestage  Taton,  only  he  is  to  raise  one  hundred  dollars  out  of  it, 
which  I  give  to  my  daughter  Tolly  Bell. 

Item.  1  give  and  bequeath  all  the  remainder  of  my  estate,  both  real  and 
personal,  that  is  not  yet  given  away,  to  my  beloved  wife,  Sally  Quisenberry, 
during  her  natural  life  or  widowhood,  and  no  longer;  for  it  is  my  will  that 
she  shall  have  my  tract  of  land  whereon  I  now  live  on  containing  about  409 
acres,  and  another  tract  adjoining  of  138  acres  which  1  bought  of  .Tames 
Robb  and  Company,  and  all  the  residue  of  my  estate  both  real  and  personal, 
as  long  as  she  remains  my  widow,  and  no  longer;  and  at  her  marriage  or 
death  it  is  my  will  that  the  said  estate  left  her  be  equally  divided  between 
my  last  wife’s  children,  namely:  .Toice  Quisenberry,  Benjamin  Quisenberry, 
Sally  Quisenberry,  Elizabeth  Quisenberry,  Hezekiali  Quisenberry,  and  Susie 
Ellis  Quisenberry.  And  it  is  my  will  and  desire  if  any  of  these  last-named 
children  should  die  before  the  division,  or  before  they  have  an  heir,  it  is  my 
will  that  its  or  their  parts  should  be  equally  divided  among  the  remaining 
part  of  the  last  set  of  children. 

Lastly,  I  constitute  my  beloved  wife,  Sally  Quisenberry,  executrix,  and 
Aaron  S.  Quisenberry  and  George  Ellis,  executors,  of  this  my  last  will  and 
testament. 

In  witness  whereof  I  nave  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  the  21st  day 
of  February,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1805.  AARON  QUISENBERRY. 

Signed  and  acknowledged  in  presence  of  William  Quisenberry,  Henry 
Bell,  Jno.  Moore,  Wilt.  Bell. 

At  a  Court  held  for  Orange  county,  at  the  Courthouse,  on  Monday  the  22 d 
day  of  July,  1805,  this  last  will  and  testament  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  de¬ 
ceased,  was  proved  by  the  oaths  of  Henry  Bell  and  William  Bell,  witnesses 
the  eto,  and  ordered  to  be  recorded.  And  on  the  motion  of  George  Ellis,  one 
of  the  executors  therein  named,  who  made  oath  thereto  according  to  law. 
and  together  with  Thomas  Coleman  and  Goodrich  S.  Grasty,  his  securities, 
entered  into  and  acknowledged  their  bond  in  the  penalty  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  conditioned  as  the  law  directs,  certificate  was  granted  him  for  ob¬ 
taining  a  probat  thereof  in  due  form,  liberty  being  reserved  to  Sally  Quisen¬ 
berry  and  Aaron  S.  Quisenberry,  the  executrix  and  other  executor  therein 
named,  to  join  in  the  probat  when  they  shall  think  fitt. 

Teste:  REYNOLDS  CHATMAN,  Clerk. 

At  a  court  held  for  Orange  county,  at  the  Courthor.se,  on  Monday  th  • 
23d  of  September,  1805,  on  motion  of  Aaron  S.  Quisenberry,  one  of  the  exeeu- 
tois  named  in  the  last  will  and  testament  of  Aaron  Quisenberry,  dec’d,  who 
made  oath  according  to  law,  and  together  with  Caleb  Lindsay  and  Goodrich 
S.  Grasty,  his  securities,  entered  into  and  acknowledged  their  bond  in  the 
penalty  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  conditioned  as  the  law  directs.  Certificate 
was  also  granted  him  for  obtaining  a  probat  thereof  in  (hie  form. 

Teste:  REYNOLDS  CHATMAN,  Clerk. 


(11.)  Extract  from  Will  of  William  Quisenberry. 

Orange  County,  Virginia,  July  7,  1807. 

1.  Gives  his  son  Elijah,  the  tract  of  land  whereon  lie  lives,  in  Spottsyl- 
vauia  county,  20tl  acres,  and  two  slaves. 


198 


APPENDIX. 


2.  To  daughter  Elizabeth,  two  slaves,  horse,  saddle  and  bridle  and  furni¬ 
ture.  all  ol'  which  she  has  received. 

3.  To  son  Aaron,  one-half  the  tract  of  land  lying  in  Spottsylvania  county 
containing  4D0  acres,  and  two  slaves  and  horse  and  saddle  and  bridle. 

4.  To  son  .Tames,  20(5  acres,  to  he  taken  off  the  land  bought  of  Lawrence 
Battaille,  adjoining  Widow  Cooke,  and  two  slaves,  &c. 

5.  To  daughter  .fancy,  two  slaves,  horse,  saddle  and  bridle. 

6.  To  his  three  daughters,  Anna,  Lucy  and  Maria,  two  slaves  and  horse 
and  saddle  and  bridle,  etc.,  to  each. 

He  orders  the  Merry  tract,  “adjoining  the  one  I  now  live  on,”  and  Mr. 
Tandy’s  land,  to  be  sold,  and  the  money,  after  reserving  enough  to  educate 
the  children  whose  education  is  not  completed,  to  be  equally  divided  among 
his  children. 

To  his  wife  Polly,  the  balance  of  the  tract  bought  of  Lawrence  Battaille, 
and  the  land  on  which  he  lives,  (lulling  widowhood  or  life. 


(12.)  Atlanta,  Illinois,  Feb.  8,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  1  received  your  letter  some  few  days  ago,  asking  for  informa¬ 
tion  in  regard  to  the  Quisenberry  family  of  Illinois.  I  am  sorry  that  I  can 
give  so  little  of  the  history  of  our  branch  of  the  family.  My  father’s  name 
was  Edward  Sanford  Quisenberry,  and  he  was  born  in  Fauquier  county, 
Va„  in  178(i.  He  had  three  brothers  that  I  have  an  account  of,  and  their 
names  were  John,  Ceorge  and  James.  My  father  was  the  youngest  of  the 
family.  He  moved  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  in  1816,  and  settled  in  Chris¬ 
tian  county,  and  then  moved  to  Illinois  in  1835,  and  raised  a  large  family 
here.  My  father’s  brother  James  moved  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  but  I 
don’t  knowr  what  year. 

Very  respectfully,  H.  C.  QUISENBERRY. 


(13.)  Lincoln,  Illinois,  Feb.  14,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  February  3d,  addressed  to  Allen  Quisenberry, 
has  come  into  my  hands.  *  *  *  My  father,  Edward  Sanford  Quisenberry, 
was  born  in  Culpeper  or  Fauquier  county,  Va.,  in  1787,  and  served  in  the 
War  of  1812,  and  moved  to  Christian  county,  Ky.,  soon  after  the  war.  He 
was  married  twice,  and  raised  nineteen  children  to  be  men  and  women;  and 
lie  moved  to  Logan  county,  Illinois,  in  the  year  1835.  My  father’s  brother 
James  moved  to  Christian  county,  Ky.,  and  raised  a  family,  and  died  there. 
His  sons  Edward  and  Richard  lived  there  the  last  I  knew'  of  them.  I  am 
the  youngest  child  of  nine  sons  and  ten  daughters.  The  traditions  of  our 
family  (of  which  my  father  knew  much)  were  that  three  brothers,  of  Scotch 
origin,  came  to  this  country  from  England,  and  settled  in  Virginia,  from 
whom  a  numerous  family  had  their  origin.  If  I  had  remembered  all  that 
my  father  told  me  it  would  be  invaluable.  When  you  remember  that  he  lived 
to  shake  hands  with  Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United  States,  you 
will  see  that  his  memory  v'erit  back  to  a  long  time  ago.  *  *  *  The  address 
of  Allen  Quisenberry  is  Armington,  Tazewell  county,  Illinois.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  ‘  ARTHUR  QUISENBERRY. 


(14.)  Ozeana,  Essex  county,  Virginia,  May  25,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  I  can  not  trace  my  family  on  my  father’s  side  any  further  back 
than  this  (w'hich  is  in  the  old  family  Bible):  My  father’s  father  was  named 
James  T.  Quesenberry,  and  my  father’s  name  was  Wm.  S.  Quesc  nb  rry.  and 
he  wras  married  twice.  He  had  two  daughters  by  his  first  wife  and  three 
sons  by  Iris  last  wife,  who  was  a  Miss  Southall,  daughter  of  Charles  Southall, 
and  I  am  the  youngest  son  by  the  last  wife.  My  oldest  brother  was  killed  in 
the  war,  in  1864,  and  my  father  was  also  killed  in  the  war,  in  1865.  My 


APPENDIX 


199 


mother  (lied  when  I  was  three  years  old,  and  I  went  to  live  with  my  grand¬ 
mother,  Courtney  Southall,  who  came  from  Scotland  in  1790,  and  was  mar¬ 
ried  in  America  to  Charles  Southall,  my  grandfather  on  my  mother's  side, 
and  my  father’s  relations  I  never  knew  much  about.  I  could  not  say  wheth¬ 
er  my  father  was  born  in  Orange  county,  or  Spottsylvania.  I  know  that  he 
lived  in  Fredericksburg  at  the  time  he  married  my  mother,  and  lived  there 
until  the  war  broke  out.  *  *  *  He  was  killed  at  Petersburg.  *  *  *  My 
old  family  Bible  is  a  Bible  that  belonged  to  a  Mary  Quesenbury— with  that 
name  in  it— dated  in  1509;  and  no  one  can  read  it.  It  is  all  printed  in  Greek, 
or  some  other  language,  I  have  never  been  able  to  find  out  what,  and  it  has 
been  taken  for  a  scrap-book,  and  a  part  of  the  record  in  it  has  been  taken  out 
and  lost.  On  receiving  your  letter  I  examined  the  old  Bible,  and  the  first 
name  on  the  record  was  Mary  Quesenbury,  who  died  September  8  1509,  and 
the  balance  of  that  has  been  torn  out.  It  has  been  so  little  cared  for  be¬ 
cause  no  one  could  read  it,  and  what  was  cared  for  (of  the  family  record) 
lias  been  taken  out  and  put  in  newer  Bibles.  *  *  *  I  am  35  years  old  and 
carry  on  carriage  building,  and  hold  a  small  office  in  this  county — Justice  of 
the  Peace.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  SAMUEL  QUESENBERRY. 

Clarendon  Hotel,  Baltimomre,  Md.,  June  9,  1888. 

Dear  Sir:  *  *  *  The  Bible  that  lias  ben  used  as  a  scrap-book  I  brought 
to  Baltimore  with  me,  and  sold  it  for  fifty  dollars,  it  being  the  oldest  Bible 
in  America,  so  there  will  be  no  chance  of  your  getting  that.  If  I  could  have 
gotten  your  letter  before  I  left  home  I  would  have  been  glad  to  sell  it  to  you. 
I  could  have  gotten  more  money  than  $50  for  it  if  some  of  the  leaves  had 
not  been  torn  out.  I  did  not  think  it  was  worth  anything  until  a  drummer 
stopped  with  me  the  day  before  I  came  to  Baltimore,  and  he  was  looking  at 
it,  and  said  I  could  sell  it  for  a  good  price  here,  so  I  brought  it  along,  and 
sold  it  before  your  letter  reached  me.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  SAMUEL  QUESENBERRY. 


(15.)  From  the  “Burnt  Records”  of  Fayette  County,  Ivy. 

The  “burnt  records,”  so  called,  of  Fayette  county,  Kentucky,  are  copies 
of  mutilated  papers  partially  saved  from  the  flames  when  the  Fayette  County 
Clerk’s  Office  was  destroyed  by  fire  prior  to  the  year  1800.  In  April,  1888,  I 
examined  these  records  personally,  and  found  where  my  great-grandfather. 
Rev.  James  Quisenberry,  bought  200  acres  of  land  in  1788,  in  (now)  Clark 
county,  from  his  brother-in-law,  Rev.  Andrew  Tribble.  And  in  the  same 
book  (Vol.  1.  page  213)  it  is  recorded  that  in  1795  Elijah  Cushenberry  bought 
land  on  David’s  Fork,  Fayette  county,  from  Elijah  Craig. 

Also,  tlie  following  entries  from  the  records  succeeding  the  “burnt  rec¬ 
ords.”  for  the  period  between  1795  and  1800,  viz: 

District  Court,  Book  D,  Elijah  Cosenberry,  deed  to  Elijali  Craig,  page 

133. 

District  Court.  Book  D,  Lewis  Craig  to  Lewis  Custenberry,  page  166. 

Circuit  Court,  Book  B,  Lewis  Craig  to  Elijah  Crounsenb  rry,  page  688. 

County  Court,  Book  C,  Elijah  Custenberry  to  R.  R.  Hunt,  page  398. 

County  Court,  Book  E,  Wm.  Cusenberry  to  Charles  Robinson,  page  381. 

Marriage  Register,  book  1,  page  4,  John  Pullen  to  Rachel  Cushenberry. 
Nov.  6.  1804,  by  Rev.  Ambrose  Dudley.  Elijah  Cushenberry  certifies  that  his 
sister  Rachel  is  of  lawful  age.  Book  1,  page  10,  Obedience  Custenberry  to 
Jonathan  Ellis,  Nov.  29,  1807,  by  Rev.  R.  R.  Hunt. 

Who  these  people  were,  and  where  they  went  to  when  they  left  Fayette 
county  in  1810,  I  do  not  know.  The  variations  in  the  spelling  of  the  name 
is  due  to  the  lawyer  who  drew  up  the  papers  or  of  the  clerks  who  recorded 
them,  for  none  of  the  parties  themselves  could  write  at  first,  though  Elijali 
seems  subsequently  to  have  learned  to  do  so,  and  then,  instead  of  “making 
his  mark,”  he  signed  Cusenberry.— [A.  C.  Q.j 


200 


APPENDIX. 


(17.)  Melrose,  near  Milfonl,  Caroline  Co„  Va.,  Sept.  11,  1878. 

I>enr  Sir:  1  will  give  you  all  tlie  information  in  my  possession  con¬ 
cerning  our  family,  though  1  fear  it  will  be  very  unsatisfactory.  First,  there 
seems  to  be  two  ways  of  spelling  the  name,  and  for  some  cause  unknown 
to  me  this  has  divided  the  families,  though  evidently  they  were  originally 
the  same.  My  branch  spell  the  name  with  an  e— thus,  Quesenberry— and  as 
ftir  back  as  I  can  trace  them  they  were  in  Middlesex  county,  Va.,*  some 
old  places  there  still  retaining  the  name.  They  thence  removed  to  Westmore¬ 
land  county,  and  thence  to  King  George  county,  where  my  grandfather  lived. 
I  have  his  marriage  register,  dated  in  1794.  His  name  was  James,  and  his 
wife  was  Ann  Brown.  So  far  as  I  know,  my  family  were  mostly  Methodists, 
and  I  have  heard  of  no  preachers  among  them.  Since  I  have  grown  up  I  have 
become  acquainted  with  several  members  of  our  family  who  spell  their 
names  as  you  do  (with  an  i— thus,  Quisenberry)  and  who  live  in  Spottsylvania 
and  Orange  counties,  and  who  are,  I  behove,  all  Baptists;  and  “James”  is  a 
family  name  with  them.  *  *  *  I  have  been,  like  yourself,  curious  to 
know  something  of  the  origin  of  a  name  so  singular,  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  have  concluded  about  it,  and  that  is  that  it  is  no  name  at  all,  but 
that  from  some  carelessness  or  ignorance  on  the  part  of  some  of  our  early 
ancestors  in  this  country,  a  very  pretty  and  good  name  has  been  spoiled  and 
ruined  forever.  Take  the  name  Quesenberry  and  transpose  the  letter  s,  and 
you  will  have  the  name  Queensberry,  which,  in  my  judgment,  is  what  has 
happened;  and  from  all  I  can  learn  from  the  traditions  of  the  family,  Ave 
came  from  Scotland,  Avliere  the  name  of  Queensberry  properly  belongs.  *  *  * 
I  am,  yours  very  truly,  WM.  U.  QUESENBERRY. 

*The  Clerk  of  Middlesex  Co.,  Va.,  Avrote  me  that  the  name  Quisenberry  or 
Quesenberry  (or  anything  like  them)  does  not  occur  ju  the  records  of 
that  county  at  all.— [A.  C.  Q.] 


(18.) 

Pedigree  CXL,  from  BroAvniug's  “Americans  of  Royal  Descent”  (page  570). 

1. — Alfred  the  Great,  King  of  England,  had; 

2.  — EdAvard  the  Elder,  King  of  England,  who  had: 

3. — Princess  Edgiva,  m.  secondly,  Henry,  Count  Vermandois,  and  had: 

4. — Hubert.  Count  de  Vermandois  and  Troyes,  Avho  had: 

5.  — Lady  Adela  de  Vermandois,  who  m.  Prince  Hugh  the  Great.  Count  de 
Vermandois,  sou  of  Henry  I,  King  of  France,  and  had: 

6.  — Lady  Isabella  de  Vermandois,  Avho  in.  first,  Robert,  Baron  de  Bellomont, 
Earl  of  Mellent  and  Leicester,  and  had: 

7.  — Robert,  second  Earl  of  Leicester,  Justice  of  England,  avIio  had: 

8. — Robert,  third  Earl  of  Leicester,  SteAvard  of  England,  Avho  had: 

9. — Lady  Margaret  de  Bellomont,  who  m.  Saier.  Baron  de  Quincey,  of 
Bushby,  created,  in  1207,  Earl  of  Winchester,  and  had- 

10. — Lady  HaAvise  de  Quincy,  m.  Hugh  de  Vere,  fourth  Earl  of  Oxford. 
Chamberlain  of  England,  and  had: 

11.  — Robert,  fifth  Earl  of  Oxford,  Avho  had: 

12.  — Alplionso  de  Vere,  second  son.  avIio  had: 

13. — John  de  Vere,  seventh  Earl  of  Oxford,  avIio  had: 

14. — Aubrey  de  Vere,  second  son.  tenth  Earl  of  Oxford,  Avho  had: 

15.  —Richard  de  Vere,  eleventh  Earl  of  Oxford,  Avho  had: 

10.— Robert  de  Vere,  second  son,  avIio  had- 

17.  — John  de  Vere.  Avho  had: 

18.  — John  de  Vere,  I\.  G.,  fifteenth  Earl  of  Oxford,  Avho  had: 

19.  — Lady  Anne  de  Vere,  avIio  m.  Edmund  Sheffield,  created,  1547.  Lord 
Sheffield  of  ButterAvieke,  K.  1548,  and  had: 

20. — John,  second  Lord  Sheffield,  avIio  had: 

21.  — Sir  Edmund,  Lord  Sheffield,  K.  G„  Earl  of  Mulgrave,  who  had: 

22. — Lady  Frances  Sheffield,  in.  Sir  Philip  Fairfax,  and  had: 

23. — Sir  William  Fairfax,  of  Stenton,  1010-'92,  Avho  had: 


APPENDIX. 


201 


24. — Lady  Isabella  Fairfax,  b.  1037,  cl.  1091;  m.  Nathaniel  Bladen,  of  Hems- 
worth,  Yorkshire,  and  had: 

(1.)— Kt.  lion.  Col.  Martin  Bladen,  of  Aldborough  Hatch,  Essex,  d.  4  Feb. 
1740,  age  06;  M.  I’.,  Comptroller  of  Mint,  1714:  Minister  Plenipotentiary; 
Aide  to  Marlborough;  Lord  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  1717-’40;  Under 
Secretary  of  State,  after  whom  Bladen  county,  N.  C.,  was  named;  m.. 
first.  Mary,  daughter  of  Colonel  Gibbs,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and 
had  issue. 

25.  (2.)— William  Bladen,  b.  27  Feb.  1072,  d.  7  Aug.  1718;  Commissary 
General  of  Maryland;  m.,  first,  Letitia  (or  Jane),  daughter  of  Judge 
Dudley  Loftus,  Vicar  General  of  Ireland,  and  his  wife  Frances,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  Patrick  Nangle,  son  of  Thomas  Naugle,  Baton  of  Navau;  m., 
secondly,  Anne  Seymour.  By  his  first  wife  he  had,  besides  others: 

(I.)— Thomas  Bladen,  of  Glastonbury  Abbey,  Somersetshire,  b.  23  Feb., 
1098,  d.  2  Feb.,  M.  P., 

(II.)— Governor  of  Maryland,  1742-'47,  after  whom  Bladensburg,  Md., 
was  named.  II.  Wm. 

(I'll.) — Bladen,  naval  officer  in  1781,  at  Annapolis,  Md.  III. — Priscilla 
Bladen,  who  married  Robert  Carter,  of  “Nomini,"  Va.,  son  of 
“King”  Carter,  of  Corotoman,  Va.,  and  had:  (a)  Robert  Carter, 
of  Nomini  Ilall,  Va..  the  Councillor,  who  married: 

26. — (IV.)  Frances  Tasker,  liis  cousin.  IV.  Anne  Bladen,  who  married 

Benjamin  Tasker,  b.  1690,  d.  1768;  President  of  the  Council  and 
Deputy  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  son  of  Captain 
Thomas  Tasker,  d.  1699,  Treasurer  of  the  Maryland  Province  and 
Judge  of  the  Provincial  Court,  1695-’98,  and  his  wife,  Anne  Calvert, 
widow  of  Baker  Brooke,  Deputy  Governor  of  Maryland,  a  grand¬ 
daughter  of  George  Calvert,  first  Lord  Baltimore,  and  had:  (1) 
Col.  Benjamin  Tasker,  d.s.p.  21  Oct.,  1760,  aged  40  years,  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State  of  Maryland,  and  a  Commissioner  for  Maryland  to 
the  General  Convention  of  the  Colonies  at  Albany.  (2)  Anne 
Tasker,  who  m.  Samuel  Ogle,  thrice  Governor  of  Maryland.  (3) 
Rebecca  Tasker,  who  m.  Judge  Daniel  Dulaney,  member  of  the 
Council  and  Secretary  of  State  of  Maryland,  son  of  Judge  Daniel 
Dulaney,  Attorney-General  of  Maryland.  (4)  Frances 

27. — (4)  Tasker,  who  m.  Robert  Carter,  of  Nomini,  the  Councillor,  son  of 

Robert  Carter,  and  grandson  of  “King”  Carter,  of  Virginia,  and 
had:  (a)  George  Carter,  of  Oatlands,  Va.,  who  m.  Mrs.  Betty  Lewis 
Grayson  and  had  (one)  Benjamin  Tasker  Carter,  m.  Miss  F.itzhugli, 
and  (two)  George  Carter,  m.  Kate  Powell;  (b)  Betty  Landon,  m. 
Spencer  Ball,  of  Virginia;  (c)  Ann  T.,  m.  John  Mound,  of  Vir¬ 
ginia:  (d)  Mrs. 

28. — (d)  Quisenberry,  of  Virginia;  (e)  Priscilla,  m.  Mr.  Mitchell,  of  Vir¬ 

ginia:  (f)  Julia,  in.  Dr.  Robert  Berkley,  of  Virginia;  (g)  Sally,  m. 
Mr.  Chinn,  of  Virginia;  (lit  Frances,  m.  Mr.  Jones,  of  Virginia; 
(i)  Benjamin;  (j)  Robert;  (k)  John;  (1)  Sophia;  (m)  Rebecca;  (in 
Amelia;  (o)  Harriet;  (p)  Mary.  (5)  Elizabeth  Tasker,  m.  Christo¬ 
pher  Lowndes,  of  Bladensburg,  Md.,  son  of  Richard  Lowndes,  of 
Hawell  Hall,  and  had:  (a)  Richard  Tasker  Lowndes,  who  m.  a 
daughter  of  Col.  Edward  Lloyd,  of  Wye  House,  Md.,  and  his 
wife,  a  sister  of  Col.  John  Tayloe,  of  ML  Airy,  Va.,  and  had  (one) 
Benjamin  Ogle  Lowndes,  of  Bladensburg,  d.s.p.,  (two)  the  wife 
of  Itt.  Rev.  Bishop  Pinckney;  (b)  Charles  Lowndes,  m.  a  daughter 
of  Col.  Edward  Lloyd,  of  Wye  House,  and  had:  (one)  Lloyd 
Lowndes,  (two)  Charles  Lowndes,  m.  daughter  of  Governor  Lloyd, 
of  Maryland;  (c)  Frances  Lowndes;  (d)  a  daughter,  who  m.  Levi 
Gantt,  of  Graden,  Md.,  and  had:  (one)  Christopher  Lowndes  Gantt, 
who  married  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Stoddert,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  had  Thomas  Tasker  Gantt,  of  St.  Louis;  (e)  Rebecca 


202 


AFPENDIX. 


Lowndes,  who  married  Benjamin  Stoddert,  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  had  (one)  a  daughter,  who  in.  Christopher  Lowndes  Gantt, 
(two)  Bettie  Stoddert  who  in.  Dr.  Thomas  Ewell,  and  had 
Lieutenant-General  It.  S.  Ewell,  C.  S.  Army;  (f) Benjamin  Lowndes, 
m.  Miss  Buchanan. 


(19.)  Will  of  John  Bush. 

(Will-Book  2.  page  94,  Records  of  Orange  County,  Virginia,  Court.) 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I.  John  Bush,  of  St.  Thomas  Parish,  in  (lie 
county  of  Orange,  being  weak  in  body,  but  of  perfect  mind  and  memory, 
and  knowing  that  it  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die,  do  make  and 
ordain  this  my  last  will  and  testament  in  manner  and  form  following: 

Imprimis.  I  do  order  that  all  my  just  debts  be  paid  and  satisfied. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  beloved  wife,  Bridget  Bush,  one  bed 
and  furniture. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  son  Philip  Bush,  five  shillings  sterling. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  daughter,  Martha  Bruce,  also  five 
shillings  sterling. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  daughter,  Elizabeth  Sanders,  also 
five  shillings  sterling. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son,  Joliu  Bush,  five  shillings  sterling. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  sons,  Thomas  Bush  and  Daniel  Bush, 
all  the  Remainder  of  my  Estate,  to  be  equally  divided  between  them,  to 
them  and  their  heirs  forever;  and 

Lastly,  I  do  constitute  and  appoint  Philip  Bush  and  Bridget  Bush  to  be 
my  whole  and  sole  Exrs  of  this  my  last  will  and  testament.  In  witness 
whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  this  7th  day  of  September, 
1745.  JOHN  BUSH. 

Teste:  Thos:  Stanton,  Jos:  Eddows. 

Feb.  27,  174G,  Thilip  Bush  qualified  as  Executor,  with  John  Askew  as 
surety. 


(20.)  Will  of  Philip  Bush. 

(Will-Book  2.  page  153,  Records  of  Orange  County,  Va„  Court.) 

In  the  name  of  God,  amen!  I,  Philip  Bush,  of  the  County  of  Orange  and 
Parish  of  St.  Thomas,  being  of  sound  and  disposing  mind  and  memory,  do 
make  and  ordain  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament  in  manner  and  form 
following: 

First.— I  resign  my  soul  into  the  hands  of  Almighty  God  in  full  hope  he 
will  receive  it  through  the  merits  of  my  blessed  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  And 
my  body  I  desire  may  be  decently  buried  at  the  discretion  of  my  executors, 
hereafter  named. 

Item.— I  give  and  devise  unto  my  son,  Josiali  Bush,  and  Sarah,  his  wife, 
one  hundred  acres  of  my  land  which  lies  on  the  South  Side  of  Blue  Run,  and 
which  I  had  of  George  Head,  during  their  natural  lives,  or  the  survivor  of 
them,  and  after  their  decease  my  will  is  and  I  devise  this  land  to  my  grand¬ 
son,  Philip  Bush,  son  to  the  said  Josiali  and  Sarah  his  wife,  and  his  heirs 
forever. 

Item.— I  give  and  devise  unto  my  son  Philip  Bush  two  hundred  acres  of 
land  lying  on  Bare  Run.  in  Spotsylvania  County,  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever. 
And  whereas  the  said  land  is  under  contract  and  sold,  my  will  is  that  I  make 
a  conveyance  for  the  said  land  in  my  lifetime  that  my  said  son  Philip  shall 
have  and  enjoy  the  money  for  which  said  land  is  sold. 

Item.— I  give  and  devise  unto  my  sou  John  Bush  and  Elizabeth  his  wife 
during  their  natural  lives,  or  the  survivor  of  them,  one  hundred  acres  of  land, 


APPENDIX. 


203 


it  being  the  tract  whereon  I  now  live,  and  after  their  decease  I  devise  the 
said  land  to  the  first  male  heir  lawfully  begotten  of  the  body  of  the  said 
John,  and  his  heirs  forever. 

Item.— I  give  and  devise  unto  my  son  William  Bush,  one  hundred  acres  of 
land  which  I  bought  of  William  Bryan,  and  which  lies  on  the  north  side  of 
Blue  Run,  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever;  and  whereas  my  said  son  William 
has  been  absent  some  time  past  and  not  heard  of,  now  my  will  and  desire 
is  that  if  he  the  said  William  should  never  return,  or  any  heirs  lawfully 
begotten  of  his  body,  to  claim  and  possess  the  said  laud,  that  my  son  Francis 
Bush  and  his  heirs  forever  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  same,  provided  that  he, 
the  said  Francis  Bush,  pay  unto  my  grandson  Lewis  Bush  the  sum  of  Five 
Founds,  Current  Money.  And  it  is  also  my  will  and  desire  that  my  said  son 
Francis  shall,  at  my  death,  have  quiet  possession  and  enjoy  the  said  land 
until  my  said  son  William  or  his  heirs  as  aforesaid  shall  lawfully  claim  the 
same.  I  also  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  said  son  Francis  one  negro  man 
slave  named  Tom,  and  one  feather  bed  and  furniture,  and  one  smooth  gun, 
forever. 

Item.— I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  son  Ambrose  Bush  one  negro  woman 
named  Rose,  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever. 

Item.— I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  daughter  Sarah  Watts  one  negro 
woman  named  Jude,  and  to  her  heirs  forever,  provided  she  pays  to  my  execu¬ 
tors  hereafter  named  the  sum  of  Twenty  Pounds  Current  Money,  to  be  dis¬ 
posed  of  as  hereafter  directed. 

Item.— I  give  unto  my  grand-daughter,  Susannah  Watts,  one  oval  table. 

Item.— I  give  unto  my  daughter  Mary  Richards  one  negro  boy  named 
James,  provided  she  pay  to  my  executors  the  sum  of  Twenty  Pounds  Current 
Money,  to.be  disposed  of  as  hereafter  directed. 

Item.— I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  grand-daughter  Frances,  alias 
Franky,  Johnson  one  chest  of  drawers  which  I  am  now  possessed  of. 

Item.— I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  son  Joseph  Bush  the  sum  of  Twenty- 
Five  Pounds  current  money,  to  be  paid  by  my  Executors.  Also  I  give  him  a 
rule  gun  which  he  has  in  his  possession. 

Item.— I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  son  Joshua  Bush  the  sum  of  Twenty- 
Five  Pounds  current  money,  to  be  paid  by  my  Executors;  also  a  gun  called 
the  Long-shot  Gun. 

Item.  I  give  unto  my  daughter  Elizabeth  Johnson  the  sum  of  Twenty- 
Five  Pounds  current  money,  to  be  paid  by  my  Executors. 

Item.— To  enable  my  executors  to  discharge  the  above  legacies  in  money, 
and  for  the  payment  of  my  just  debts  and  my  funerall  expenses,  I  do  hereby 
direct  and  it  is  my  will  and  desire  that  all  my  other  estate  not  before  be¬ 
queathed  or  devised  be  sold  by  my  executors;  and  the  residue  of  the  money 
which  shall  be  in  thedr  hands  belonging  to  my  estate,  and  if  there  bo  any. 
to  be  equally  divided  amongst  all  my  children. 

Lastly.— I  do  hereby  appoint  my  two  sons  Philip  and  Francis  Bush  and 
my  son-in-law  David  Watts  executors  of  this  my  last  will  and  testament, 
and  do  constitue  them  as  such.  And  do  hereby  revoke  and  make  null  and 
void  all  former  wills  heretofore  made  by  me. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set.  my  hand  and  seal  this  loth  dav 
of  May,  1771,  Anno  Domini.  PHILIP  BUSH. 

Sealed,  published  and  declared  by  (lie  Testator  as  his  last  Will  and  Tes¬ 
tament  in  presence  of  us  who  have  subscribed  our  names  as  witnesses  thereto 
in  the  presence  of  the  said  Testator. 

JAMES  MADISON, 

(Father  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  of  that  name.— A.  C.  Q.) 

THO.  BARBOUR. 

DAVID  THOMSON. 

At  a  Court  held  for  Orange  county  on  Thursday  the  24th  day  of  Septem¬ 
ber,  1772,  this  last  will  and  testament  of  Philip  Bush,  dec’d,  was  presented 
into  Court  by  Philip  Bush,  one  of  the  Executors  therein  named,  and  proved 


204 


APPENDIX. 


by  the  oaths  of  James  Madison  and  Thomas  Barbour,  two  of  the  witnesses 
thereto,  and  ordered  to  be  recorded.  And  on  the  motion  of  the  said  Philip, 
who  made  oath  according  to  law,  certificate  is  granted  Mm  for  obtaining  let¬ 
ters  of  probat  thereof  in  due  form,  he  giving  security.  Whereupon  he,  with 
Josiali  Bush  and  Ambrose  Bush,  lvis  securities,  entered  into  and  acknowledged 
their  Bond  for  the  sum  of  One  Thousand  Pounds  Current  Money. 

Teste:  GEORGE  TAILOR,  Clerk. 


Note.— The  foregoing  extracts  of  records  and  copies  of  letters,  etc.,  in  this 
Appendix,  are  only  a  portion  of  what  I  have  received  during  my  researches, 
but  are,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  worthy  of  preservation.  A.  C.  Q. 


Date  Due 

5%  t  a  ’s; 

FORM  335  40 M  9-42 

929.  2 


476  390 


Q3G- 


